Bruising under the arm.

Dear Doctor;

  I am not sure this is a dermatology question or not.  I did read the information on bruising elsewhere on the site.  About 10 days ago my wife noticed a bruise in her arm pit.  She could not remember an injury causing it.  Her concern is that over the past week it has grown larger instead of smaller.  She is 38 years old, smokes, controls her weight by eating a higher protein diet (carbos are not eliminated), and is in generally good health.  Is this an indication of some other condition or cause?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Tom:

Probably not.  Bruises often alarm people, because you can almost never recall the instance of trauma which produced them; all of a sudden, there they are!  Also, it takes bruises days or even weeks to subside.  My advice: leave the area alone excpet to wash it gently for 1 month.  Bet it goes away before then.  If not, check it out, but there probably will be nothing left to check by then.

Best.

Dr. R

[Farhad99]

A related discussion, Unexplained armpit bruises was started.