How I healed a large, ugly bruise in 5 days!
I bruise easily and heal slowly on my fair skin tone but when I had dental surgery that left an unexpected large, dark bruise on my jawline despite frequent icing of the area, I had to find something quick. When the bruise appeared, I immediately researched how to heal bruising and discovered the benefits of Arnica and a wonder cream that made this bruise disappear in 5 days!
What is Arnica?
Arnica is a wildflower and comes from the Asteraceae family, or more commonly known as the daisy or sunflower family. Arnica has been used for medicinal purposes as far back as the 1600’s. Native American Indians would use the root of the Arnica wildflower to make a tea to relieve back pain. However, a word of caution, Arnica is not recommended for ingestion due to severe liver damage. Today, many anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving topical creams contain Arnica and are safe and effective.
What are the benefits of Arnica?
Arnica has potent anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. Primary uses for Arnica are to relieve sore muscle and joint pain and to aid in the healing of bruises. Arnica helps repair the broken capillaries cause by trauma to the skin or underlying tissue by increasing blood flow to the area, thus aiding in the regeneration of tissue as well as reducing the inflammation and pain caused by the trauma to muscle, joints or skin.
My big ole bruise story
As I said at the beginning, I had dental surgery. I was warned of the potential for swelling and to ice the area frequently. Frequently was an understatement. The instructions were to ice for 10 minutes on, then 10 off and 10 on and so forth, as soon as I got home and continue until bedtime! And then in the following days to ice as often as I could keeping in mind that I could expect the most swelling 3-5 days post-surgery. I was diligent and followed doctors’ orders.
However, no one said anything about bruising! I guess I should have expected it, but I was focused on not looking like a chipmunk with a mouthful of acorns. In addition to icing, I slept on a wedge pillow to keep my head elevated. Ice and elevation = no inflammation! I woke up on post-op day 3 and as you can see from the picture above, I was successful in keeping the swelling at bay! That bruise was a shocker though!
The best product that promotes bruise healing
I immediately started researching how to heal bruising and discovered Arnica. When I searched for Arnica on Amazon, I came across a familiar looking jar of Penetrex cream. It just so happens I had this exact cream in my bathroom cabinet. My Physical Therapist husband had given it to me for my frequently sore neck and trapezoid muscles. I have also rubbed it on my hands when I get an arthritis flair up. Penetrex cream has been truly a wonder cream for muscle and joint pain and now a super bruise healing cream too!
In addition to Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Penetrex Joint and Muscle Therapy has Vitamin B6 and MSM (methysulfonylmethane). Vitamin B6 is thought to help the regeneration of red blood cell production and MSM is naturally occurring in the body and helps in relieving musculoskeletal pain and boosting the immune system. This cream has a light scent from the jar that dissipates quickly, absorbs nicely into the skin and isn’t greasy. Some of the other ingredients in it that I like are aloe vera, tea tree oil and tocopherol (vitamin E).
I can’t recommend this product enough (and this is not sponsored by the way)! When I say I heal from bruises slowing I’m talking 3-4 weeks for mystery bruises that appear out of nowhere. Shortly after my dental surgery bruise, I hit the backside of my hip on a door handle at work. I just knew that was going to leave a mark. As soon as I got home, I rubbed the Penetrex cream on the painful area and again a couple of times the next day. Guess what? No bruise ever appeared! And I hit that door handle pretty hard. All I can say is I’m convinced.