- Hickeys are marks that one person gives to another, usually during kissing. They look like bruises. A person gives another person a hickey by sucking on and sometimes nibbling the other persons skin. It takes quite a bit of sucking pressure to cause a hickey to form. It takes about thirty seconds of consistent sucking to give a person a hickey. The neck is the most common place that people give each other hickeys on, although hickeys can be given on most any part of the body.
- A hickey resembles a bruise because it basically is a bruise. The sucking action on the skin causes trauma to the blood vessels underneath the skin. The blood vessels break and blood leaks from the broken blood vessels and pools under the skin. The blood under the skin causes the mark known as a hickey. Hickeys can vary in color and size, just like bruises can. The color of a hickey can be red, purple, brown or a combination of all three colors. Generally, the darker the hickey, the more blood vessels that have been broken under the skin.
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A hickey heals in the same way that a bruise does. The body heals the broken blood vessels and absorbs the blood that leaked out underneath the skin. Once the blood is absorbed, the mark will be gone. Hickeys can take a couple of days to a couple of weeks to fully go away. Different people heal faster than others.
A general guideline is by knowing how long a bruise normally takes to go away in an individual. Since a hickey is essentially a bruise, a hickey will go away in about the same time frame as a general bruise does. As a hickey heals, it will fade in color gradually until it fully fades away. - Many people who don't want anyone to see their hickey try to find a quick way to make it go away. Hickeys are bruises and there is no magic way to make them disappear. Time is the big healer for hickeys. Ice wrapped in a towel and applied to the hickey might minimize the appearance of a hickey, if it is applied soon after the hickey is given. The ice reduces swelling and helps to stop blood flow. Never use ice directly on the skin. Always wrap it in a cloth to prevent causing frostbite damage to the skin.
- The best way to hide a hickey is to either cover it with makeup or wear a shirt with a high collar or neckline to cover it. Concealer makeup with a green tint covers hickeys the best. The green tint helps to counteract the redness of the hickey.
