Nicked Bump Near My Lip While Shaving, And the Blood's Not Coagulating

August 31, 2004 12:34 PM

SeepingBloodFilter: like this shaving nick, I'll cut to the point inside...

I've a little bump near my nose and upper lip. Harmless little thing, not a mole or skin tag, just a raised bump that's been sitting happily there for as long as I can remember.

Said bump has been nicked whilst shaving these past couple of times and slowly oozes blood for endless hours. For no particularly good reason I can imagine, the blood simply doesn't coagulate. I can (and have) nick myself most anywhere else and quit bleeding within minutes, so it's not like I'm a hemophiliac.

I really don't think this is a Big Medical Concern. It shows no signs of being anything but a bump.

Any ideas on why it bleeds so, and what household items may be used to force coagulation? Lemon juice didn't do the trick...

posted by five fresh fish to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

Block of Alum

Alum used to be a household product but one of those will last forever.
posted by jeremias at 12:39 PM on August 31, 2004

Or a styptic pencil (easier to apply). Stings a bit, but much better than bleeding all over the place.
posted by aladfar at 12:43 PM on August 31, 2004

Or a styptic pencil (easier to apply). Stings a bit, but much better than bleeding all over the place.

As for why it bleeds so much - it probably has more to do with the razor and your head than the bump itself. There's lots of blood coursing through our face/head, and a clean cut from a razor tends to bleed more than any other kind of superficial wound. Hence a bad razor nick becomes something of a perfect storm.
posted by aladfar at 12:47 PM on August 31, 2004

A trick I learned from the dog grooming trade: a plain-old match will stop bleeding. They recommend it for when you cut the dog's nails too close, but it will work on faces in a pinch. It hurts like hell (more than a styptic pencil) and probably contains 42 chemicals known to kill you dead, but in a pinch it'll do.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:51 PM on August 31, 2004

You don't say if it's a part of your normal nick and scratch care routine, but you should apply pressure. It's unlikely a wound of that size will continue to bleed after 5 or 6 minutes of pressure.
posted by majick at 12:57 PM on August 31, 2004

I have a mole in the same location, which gets cut shaving once or twice a year, with similar bleeding results. Per my dad's recommendation (he's a doctor), I apply pressure until it slows, and then dab occasionally if the blood starts to run. Otherwise, leave it alone, and let it scab normally.

The first time this happened, I was working at Citibank, so I went to the in-house doc there who looked at my face for about a minute and declared that I needed to get it surgically removed. That was the end of that dicussion...

BTW, what you have probably is a mole- they're sometimes skin colored.
posted by mkultra at 1:12 PM on August 31, 2004

I used to have a mole on my chin with the nasty hairs growing out of it. It was a huge pain when shaving, so I ended up getting it removed. It was a very simple procedure: a local freeze, a quick scrape, then a light touch with liquid nitrogen, just like they do for warts. It took two tries, but healed up quickly, no scarring. Shaving is much easier now. I'm very glad I had it done.
posted by bonehead at 1:47 PM on August 31, 2004

Response by poster: It's a tiny bump, barely raised and flesh-coloured; if it's a mole, it's a very innocuous one. Until it gets nicked. Then it bleeds for hours and hours and hours.

Alum isn't exactly a household item these days, although I'll readily admit I've got some (styptic pencil) in a box somewhere. Go figure: I packed it up less than a week ago.

Pressure doesn't seem to work very well. I'll give the matchhead a shot next time. Thanks, ogre!
posted by five fresh fish at 2:00 PM on August 31, 2004

I had a mole removed last year because I nicked it while shaving at least once a month. The procedure was about ten minutes (including nine waiting for the local anesthetic) and painless, and I look better now, too. Surgery, even minor surgery, is the absolute last option for me, but I should have had that mole removed years ago.
posted by letitrain at 2:28 PM on August 31, 2004

I've got one of those too. I'm also on anti-coagulants. Funny thing is, I just nicked my this morning. So there I am, blood trickling through the tissue and applying pomade to groom the fezzy head when a moment of inspiration occurs. I dab the cut with some ultra-sticky pomade and bingo--no more bleeding.

Of course, when I blew my nose this afternoon I knocked the clot right off, so we're back to dabbing with tissue every minute or so...

Will try the match trick next time.
posted by Fezboy! at 2:29 PM on August 31, 2004

A safety match head contains red phosphorus and antimony, I wouldn't recommend getting it into the blood stream, even in small doses.
posted by milovoo at 2:47 PM on August 31, 2004

I'm with milovoo, I wouldn't use a match - most dog groomers (I was one) either use styptic powder or silver nitrate sticks (which look sort of like fireplace matches), I've never heard of using a regular match, and I'd have serious questions about the ethics of a dog groomer who did. In a pinch, you can also use corn starch or flour. I'd get it removed if it were me, though, having a skin growth that you nick all the time just seems like bad news.
posted by biscotti at 3:24 PM on August 31, 2004

It may be as obvious as anything, and may not work for these nicks on moles, but try this: shower after you shave, and ensure you have that part of your face in the stream as much as possible. The resulting clot is microscopic, and so is nigh on invisible.

Especially useful for those days you don't want tissue stuck to yer chin, like interviews and weddings.
posted by dash_slot- at 4:54 PM on August 31, 2004

Response by poster: This little bump is really little, folks. Perhaps a millimeter in diameter. And it's not highly raised, either; it's damn near flat. It just happens to be on a bit of flesh that tends to squish down under the blade, while the bump does not.

If it weren't for the nick, it'd be invisible. (If it weren't for the nick, I probably wouldn't nick it again for months and months...)

Keeping my face in the shower won't do any good. It bleeds persistently and slowly for hours and hours at a time.

Perhaps it's some sort of wart, and the viral infection has borked my clotting process within it.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:31 PM on August 31, 2004

Are you on aspirin therapy? That can make even the smallest cuts bleed for a long time.
posted by donpardo at 6:18 AM on September 1, 2004

The styptic pencil will work, and you can get one at any drug store. It looks and feels like a piece of chalk.
posted by xammerboy at 7:29 AM on September 1, 2004

Response by poster: No aspirin, and I do have a styptic pencil hidden in a box in the garage. That's why I was looking for household remedies: I don't want to unpack my packing.

Anyway, it finally stopped until next time.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:26 PM on September 1, 2004