What Causes Bruises On Forearm, Wrist And Elbow?

Posted on Mon, 13 Jul 2015

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

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 Answered on

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : hi, i have an area of what appear to be bruises on my forearm. scattered, small, irregular shapes, starting from the wrist, moving to the elbow, right arm. now starting to appear on my left forearm. very minor pain, no itch, multiplying

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
they are petechiae

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

these little marks are called petechiae. They represent blood extravasation under the skin. There are a lot of potential causes. I'll mention some:
- injury (scratching the skin because of itching could be enough)
- low platelet count (a complete blood count should suffice to confirm or exclude it)
- vasculitis
- drugs (aspirin, antiepileptic drugs, corticosteroids etc)
- various infections (endocarditis, various viral infections, etc)

etc

I usually suggest starting with a complete blood count, INR, aPTT, urea, creatinine and bleeding time test. These are the essential initial tests to identify clotting problems. Depending on the results, more tests might be needed.

I hope you find my comments helpful!
If you'd like any clarification, further information or you'd like to continue this discussion by providing more data, you can contact me again, using your follow-up questions.

Kind Regards!

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