post-surgical bruising
November 18, 2009 2:32 PM   Subscribe

Is there a term for the type of bruising that occurs after surgery, away from the site of the surgery?

My coworker had surgery for a torn meniscus about two weeks ago. Her knee didn't bruise much and the swelling's gone down, but as of this week, her food is black and blue. I'm sure I've seen this phenomenon before, and I made a passing reference to it before she consulted her physical therapist and was told that it is indeed drainage of dead blood cells from the knee.

Now we're both curious about it, and most of the things I find online about post-surgical bruising are tips for plastic surgery aftercare. She's not particularly worried about how to care for it, but we both want to know: is there a term for this?
posted by moonlet to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)
 
Response by poster: ...foot. Her FOOT is black and blue.
posted by moonlet at 2:32 PM on November 18, 2009


hematoma
posted by aquafortis at 2:52 PM on November 18, 2009


Has she contacted her surgeon about that? That doesn't sound right to me...a possible sign of internal bleeding. I would definitely mention it to the surgeon (not just to the physical therapist).
posted by sully75 at 6:04 PM on November 18, 2009


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