A suction bruise, commonly called a hickey, is one of the faster-healing types of bruises. Most disappear within three days to two weeks, but with the right approach you can push healing toward the shorter end of that range. The key is acting quickly in the first 48 hours and then switching strategies as the bruise changes color.
Why Suction Bruises Form
When sustained suction is applied to the skin, tiny blood vessels called capillaries rupture beneath the surface. Blood leaks into the surrounding connective tissue, and your body immediately sends white blood cells to the area to start cleaning up. That trapped blood is what gives the bruise its color.
Over the next one to two weeks, your body breaks down the hemoglobin in the leaked blood through a predictable sequence. A fresh hickey looks red, purple, or blue. After a few days it shifts to a darker blue or brown. Around the one-week mark it turns greenish, then fades to yellow before disappearing entirely. Each color represents a different stage of breakdown, and the strategies below work by speeding up that natural process.
Because the trauma from suction is relatively minor compared to, say, a black eye, hickeys tend to heal on the earlier side of the bruise spectrum. That’s good news: the biology is already working in your favor.
Cold Therapy in the First 48 Hours
The single most effective thing you can do immediately is apply cold. Cooling the area constricts the broken capillaries, limiting how much blood leaks out and reducing the size and darkness of the bruise before it fully forms.
Wrap an ice pack or a bag of frozen peas in a thin cloth and hold it against the hickey for up to 20 minutes at a time. Repeat this four to eight times a day for the first two days. Don’t apply ice directly to bare skin, as that risks cold burns. If you catch the bruise within the first few hours, cold therapy can noticeably limit its final appearance.
Switch to Warm Compresses After Day Two
Once two days have passed, the goal flips. You’re no longer trying to prevent blood from leaking out. You’re trying to help your body reabsorb the blood that’s already there. Heat dilates blood vessels and increases circulation to the area, which helps your body clear the trapped hemoglobin faster.
Use a warm (not hot) washcloth or a microwavable heat pack for 10 to 15 minutes, several times a day. Don’t use heat on a bruise that still feels swollen, hot, or inflamed. If the area is still puffy and tender on day two, give the cold therapy another day before switching.
Gentle Massage to Disperse Trapped Blood
Light massage around and over the bruise can help move the pooled blood into surrounding tissue, where your lymphatic system can drain it more efficiently. Using your fingertips, apply gentle pressure and work outward from the center of the hickey in small circular motions.
Do this for a few minutes at a time, two or three times a day, starting after the initial 48-hour cold phase. The pressure should be firm enough to feel something but not hard enough to hurt. Pressing too aggressively on a fresh bruise can actually rupture more capillaries and make it worse. Some people use a soft-bristled toothbrush for this, lightly brushing over the area to stimulate circulation. The logic is the same: you’re encouraging blood flow to help your body do its cleanup work faster.
Topical Treatments That Help
Arnica is the most well-supported topical option for speeding bruise recovery. In a controlled trial comparing several treatments on laser-induced bruises, a 20% arnica ointment outperformed both plain petroleum jelly and a low-concentration vitamin K formula. You can find arnica gel or cream at most drugstores. Apply it to the bruise two to three times daily.
Aloe vera gel is another useful option. It reduces inflammation by lowering the activity of several inflammatory compounds in the skin, and it supports tissue repair through a sugar-based compound called glucomannan that promotes cell regeneration. A thin layer of pure aloe vera gel applied a few times a day can soothe the area and support healing alongside other methods.
Vitamin K cream is sometimes recommended, though the evidence is mixed. Higher-concentration vitamin K formulas (around 5%) performed comparably to arnica in the same trial mentioned above, but lower-concentration products didn’t show a clear benefit over placebo. If you go this route, look for a product with a higher vitamin K percentage.
Nutritional Support From the Inside
What you take internally can also influence how fast a bruise clears. Bromelain, an enzyme found in pineapple, is used to manage bruising and swelling after cosmetic procedures because it helps break down proteins in damaged tissue. Research suggests that doses starting around 750 to 1,000 milligrams per day produce the best results, and combining 1,000 milligrams of bromelain with 500 milligrams of vitamin C enhances the anti-inflammatory effect.
Vitamin C also plays a direct role in capillary strength. It’s essential for producing collagen, the structural protein that helps keep blood vessel walls intact. Getting adequate vitamin C through diet or supplementation won’t make a bruise vanish overnight, but it supports the repair process and may help prevent bruising from being as severe in the first place. Citrus fruits, bell peppers, and strawberries are all rich sources.
Covering It Up While It Heals
Even with every healing method working in your favor, a hickey won’t disappear in an hour. If you need it hidden now, color-correcting makeup is the fastest solution.
The principle is simple: colors opposite each other on the color wheel cancel each other out. For a purple bruise, apply an orange-toned color corrector. For a blue bruise, use a yellow corrector. For a reddish bruise, green works best. Apply the corrector directly to the bruise, blend it out, then layer your regular concealer and foundation on top. Set it with a translucent powder so it lasts through the day.
As the bruise changes color over the healing process, you may need to switch correctors. A bruise that starts purple will eventually turn yellowish-green, at which point a peach or light orange corrector works better than the deep orange you started with. A high-coverage concealer that matches your skin tone, patted (not rubbed) over the corrector, finishes the job.
A Day-by-Day Strategy
Combining these methods gives you the best shot at clearing a hickey as fast as possible. Here’s how to layer them together:
- Hours 0 to 48: Cold compresses for 20 minutes at a time, repeated throughout the day. Avoid massage or heat. Start applying arnica gel between icing sessions.
- Days 2 to 4: Switch to warm compresses several times daily. Begin gentle massage or light brushing over the bruise. Continue arnica. Start bromelain if you have it.
- Days 4 to 7: The bruise should be shifting from purple or blue toward green and yellow. Keep using warm compresses and arnica. Gentle massage continues to help. The color change means your body is actively breaking down the hemoglobin.
- Days 7 to 10: Most hickeys are fading significantly or gone entirely by this point. A faint yellow shadow may linger, which is the final stage before the skin returns to normal.
Throughout this entire process, use color-correcting concealer whenever you need the bruise hidden. No single method is a magic fix, but stacking cold therapy, heat, massage, arnica, and nutritional support together compresses the typical healing timeline as much as your biology will allow.