Has Trouretts. Developed Painful Purple Bruise On Inner Thigh. Using Cold And Hot Pack. Concerned About Blood Clot?

Posted on Wed, 10 Jul 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 10 Jul 2013 Answered on

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My son who is 28 has trouretts and he locks his leg very often, so he developed a dark purple bruise on inner thigh above the knee, its very painful for him and he has a problem strighten his leg, the ice pack he use at night seems to lessen the pain but i am not sure that he should be using cold or heat as the bruise is not going away nor changinig color I am concern about blood clots

Answered by Dr. Maruti Karale (43 minutes later)

Hello!

Thanks for the query.

As per the history provided by you sustained contraction of thigh muscles may lead to formation of bruise. Bruise appears reddish brown in color to begin with. It is usually tender on palpation and changes its color depending on site, extent and local temperature. Usually treatment for bruise is conservative. It will resolve by its own but it takes time. Some conditions definitely need to be excluded like bleeding diathesis, vitamin C deficiency, liver disease etc.
Bruises are mainly located below skin while hematoma is deep seated (may lead to blood clots in deep tissues).

Ultrasonography of the local site may help to differentiate between bruise and hematoma.
Applying cold compresses and oral anti-inflammatory drugs like NSAIDs will help you for symptomatic relief.

Hope this answers your query.
Thank you.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar