Am I the Amazing Purple Man?

March 7, 2010 7:44 PM

Hi, of course YANMD, but I am a 48 year old man, who the other night, was walking back from the kitchen in a pair of those sort of comfy pajama pants (sorta like flannell) looking out the window, when I turned left too fast and total scraped my left side up against the corner.

It is not sharp, and I had no visible damage other than thinking Im a dumbass. So i sit down on the couch, and this is maybe 1 minute later,and I rub my left thigh and feel a big lump under there, I mean HUGE. This thing has got to 10 inches long, and 2- inches think. My first thought was "what....whatever this was must gone through laundary"

So I pull down the pants to look, the top muscle on the thing was yanked up out of its regular place., sticking out about 2 inches. I was totally freaked out. It was a little tender, but not screamiing pain of anything.

I just figured I had never seen that sort of thing before, but lifted my top to check my side to make sure nothing hanging out. and WHOA!

There is this huge bright purple scab (i just measured it...12up x9) running front the top of the muscle up my waistband. I was pretty stunned. Now getting into the shower today I see some on my butt too!

I believe the are called Port Wine stains (you know Gorbachev, and the kid I went to 1st grade with), but Ithought those birthmarks, not walk into a wall marks.

Anyway, are they going to keep growing, am I going to be the amazing purple guy from here on out? Has anyone ever heard of something like this ?

What does something like that say about my general health??

Thanks for any info hive!

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (10 answers total)

I believe the are called Port Wine stains (you know Gorbachev, and the kid I went to 1st grade with), but Ithought those birthmarks, not walk into a wall marks.

Pretty sure what you have is a hematoma. It's not a scab. It's a pool of blood under your skin.
posted by liketitanic at 7:46 PM on March 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's just blood under your skin from broken vessels. It will eventually fade to a spectacular bruise, and then go away.
posted by kimdog at 7:47 PM on March 7, 2010

I agree that it sounds like a hematoma/bruise. If it is a bruise, it would not be uncommon for it to spread over the course of a couple days while it heals. Bruises can often take quite a while to disappear completely. Make sure it doesn't turn bright red. If it turns bright red this is a sign of infection and you should seek medical attention. It would be normal for it to be dark purple/maroon and eventually turn black/yellow as it fades. You can help it go away faster by alternating application of hot and cold to the area to help the blood re-absorb. Most of this bruise advice was given to me by a nurse when I developed a gigantic bruise after donating blood.

Disclaimer: Of course I'm not a doctor and if you have concerns that it may be more than a bruise then you should certainly see an actual doctor.
posted by Diplodocus at 7:59 PM on March 7, 2010

Port wine stains don't come on over night. You must have bashed yourself pretty badly but I think it will go away soon. IANAD but unless you have "emergency type problems" such as shortness of breath, chest pain, weakness or dizziness, etc. then you can probably skip medical care and give it a week or two to heal.
posted by MsKim at 7:59 PM on March 7, 2010

IANAD, but anonymous would have to have bruised himself pretty badly to get a hematoma that big. Nor would it form 'a minute later', or explain why he would have something similar in his gluteal area.

Anonymous, I still don't have a clear picture of your lesion or its location and won't bother speculating, but you might really want to run this by an actual physician to see what they say. None of us can actually see your thigh, so it's up to you to decide how emergent (or not) it is.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 8:55 PM on March 7, 2010

IANAD, IANYD, etc., etc. I was a firefighter/EMT, however. I have not seen what you describe, so I can't speak directly to it. What you describe sounds like a hematoma. The only thing that concerns me is that your description of the mechanism of injury does not jibe with the extent of apparent injury. What, exactly, does, "...the top muscle on the thing was yanked up out of its regular place., sticking out about 2 inches..." mean? A torn muscle would be debilitating if you displaced it 2 inches. Are we speaking of a bulge caused by the hematoma?

In any event, I would see a doctor. My reasons are twofold. First, you might want to see if there was any collateral damage (probably not). Second, the doctor might want to look at the scope of the hematoma to consider whether there is any concern regarding clot migration (again, probably not, but best to check). There does not appear to be any reason to panic, but the reason you have a family doctor (you do have one don't you?) is to help you decide about medical issues you are not trained to assess on your own.
posted by Old Geezer at 9:04 PM on March 7, 2010

If something is seriously sticking TWO INCHES out of your body, go to a doctor.
posted by Slinga at 10:09 PM on March 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sounds like a hamstring tear. My dad did this to himself once when he was skipping stones. It generally requires either trauma or a sharp turn/twist of the body, which is why I suspect it here. Pretty nasty but it doesn't have to be super painful to cause a god-awful looking bruise.

I still vote that you check with your doctor.
posted by nursegracer at 10:13 PM on March 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

As for the gluteal migration, bruises are just blood under the skin, outside the veins. They migrate like any other liquid does: with gravity. If you sleep on your butt, your butt will end up bruised-looking. It indicates that a good deal of blood has been let loose in your system. This is why we look for flank and lower-back bruising when someone busts a femoral clot after a cardiac catheterization. Blood will migrate down, not just to the surface.

Again, this indicates that much blood has been shed around your muscles in your leg. Get to a doctor now.
posted by nursegracer at 10:16 PM on March 7, 2010

You may have a blood clotting disorder (like hemophilia). This causes even minor bruises to swell up out of all proportion due to the blood not clotting properly. Get a blood test (i.e. go to a doctor).
posted by VikingSword at 6:06 PM on March 8, 2010