I have a genetic blood disease that makes me very prone to bruising --big gross long lasting bruises. Other than elevating (to prevent pooling) and light massage, I am not sure there's much you can do. I am not sure it would make a difference but I'd recommend staying hydrated and avoid aspirin (a blood thinner)

sorry this his happened to you. Feel better soon!

I'm thinking that I should make up a crazy, adventurous story about how I got so beat up looking. :-)

Arnica lotion or gel applied topically may help - look for it at a natural-type store - like Whole Foods or a health food store. It may even be more widely available now. I used it 15 years ago for a bad bruise and it really seemed to help. (Arnica is not the brand name, it is the actual contents.)

I was told a long time ago that a steeped and cooled teabag will help minimize the bruise.

So sorry this happened to you.

Jo ( I also bruise easily )

I do think that you should be working on your story. There should be a bear in it!

I did that same thing on the first day of our Miami vacation 2 years ago, except the impact was mostly to my mouth. My top lip was bleeding so I had a giant swollen, scabby lip for our entire vacation. Needless to say, no pics of me from that trip!

Ice as much as you can tolerate.

Yes, try Arnica gel or lotion....

I get my Arnica lotion at Walmart.

I found this information

After 24 to 48 hours, you'll want to switch from cold to a warm compress to help increase blood flow to the area, which will speed up the healing process. You can make this super simple by using warm water to dampen a towel and holding it over the injury until it's cool.

Also I have used witchhazel which is very cooling.

Arnica gel is life saver. I bruise at the drop of a hat.

Sorry about your injury!

Also Maddielee's childhood injury. It makes me think we should put decals or something on the glass for us (and the birds).

I have found it to really work to apply Arnica and also ice at first then apply heat after a day later. I feel the pain for aeons so have used this combo for relief many a time.

Sorry about your bruising. In addition to arnica gel, Arnicalme is amazing if you can find the version produced in France (amazon US sells a Bulgarian-made version, but I have little faith in QC there).

When I fell in France and had a cracked rib and a bone bruise in my humerus that wouldn't stop bleeding under the skin, the combination of Arnigel and Arnicalme the pharmacienne gave me fixed me up in just three or four days.

So sorry Terricks. When things settle down cover-up will be your best friend.

We all have our stories. I once walked into the edge of a doorway. I wound up with a black eye. I was on the subway platform waiting for a train and a young police officer came up and asked how I got my black eye. I totally felt that he didn't believe that I walked into a wall.

Another time and I still don't know quite how this happened, but I was turning and DH sat up at the same time and my knee hit him in the eye. What a shiner!

Color Science makes an awesome mineral coverup that works really well on bruises. It is a palette of five different shades to cover a variety of problems ... purple and/or yellow bruises, red spots, brown spots, dark circles under eyes, etc.

Just saw this, bu glad you got some arnica suggestions already. Ice and arnica gel have been our go to since my youngest was about 2 yrs old and a day care teacher put arnica on a goose egg on his forehead after he and another child banged heads while playing. By the time we picked him up, there was just a small red spot. We've kept a tube or two around ever since -- and I sent the boys off to college with their own tube as paart of their first aid kit.

When the same son was in elementary school, he got a door shut on his hand and the pediatrician sent him to a plastic surgeon to have the nail bed checked. When we talked to him about our home treatment, he approved and said he recommended arnica for his patients -- really cut down on the facial bruising especially. Hope you got some.

Just looking online it appears that many arnica creams/gels are homeopathic.

Are there any that actually contain arnica?

Edited to add - thanks for all the suggestions.

I'm maintaining a strict icing routine, and will add the warm compresses after about 24 - 48 hours.

I'm going to Spain in less than a month to walk the Camino again, so my biggest fear is injuring myself so that I can't walk. So I'm glad that just my face got a little beat up.

Look for Arnigel in the farmacias in Spain, terriks. It has far more arnica than anything sold in the US does.

And Buen Camino! Are you walking the Frances again?

I'm planning on a hybrid Camino. A friend is joining me for the first 10 days of walking, and we'll start on the Frances in St Jean Pied de Port. Then from León I'll walk the Camino del Salvador to Oviedo, finishing up on the Camino Primitivo. But I'll keep my options open. I may find a group of people I enjoy walking with and not want to leave them.

Physician's Formula makes a powder that is shades of green. My dermatologist recommended it to me as a cover-up for redness.

Hopefully you didn't bruise a cheekbone as well. that could get sore. Watch out for any headaches or whiplash from falling. If that happens you might want to book a deep massage appointment. (thinking of your trip)

Take it easy today and reassess tomorrow. Some unexpected soreness may show up.

I use a gel called Arnicare by a company called Boiron. You should be able to find it at any drug store -- even our local Walmart carries it. They keep it by the Ben Gay and other pain type creams. I can vouch for its effectiveness....several years ago, I was breaking apart some large branches (1"+ in diameter) by smashing them down onto the driveway. It was workign really well - each smash would break a few pieces off the end of the branch and eventually the whole thing was small enough to throw away. Alas, after about an hour of problem-free smashing, one of the broken ends somehow ended up flying up and hitting me square in the chin. I went inside and iced it immediately, but within a few hours, I had a giant purple bruise that was swollen up the size of half a golf ball. Did I mention that this was about a week before Thanksgiving and we were going to have a ton of visitors? After a few days went by and it looked even worse, I'm pretty sure I posted here to vent about it and got the recommendation for arnica gel. Within the first few applications it started looking better and in a day or two (in time for Thanksgiving) it was barely noticeable. There is no way it would have healed that fast on its own -- a few years prior to that, I had a deep bruise on my shin that took over a year to fully fade and this bruise was even worse than that. So I have to attribute the rapid improvement to the arnicare. Since then I have used it on a few other bad bruises on myself and my family and it always seems to work great. I highly recommend it.

We bought Boiron once and it seemed fine, but the one we have used the most is a large gel tube under the Robert's brand. Some GNC stories carry it and I found it on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014B2QTM?tag=amz-mkt-chr-us-20&ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-org00-def00-other-nomod-us000-pcomp-feature-pcomp-wm-2-wm-3-wm-1-wl-ask1&ref=bit_pcomp_ask 

How are you feeling and looking today?

Thanks for asking. I'm feeling fine, not looking so good though. Other than a bit of tenderness on my brow bone, nothing really hurts. Some of the puffiness has gone down, and when it fades from a dark purple I should be able to cover it with makeup, but trying to do that now just looks worse to me.

I have been applying the arnica gel, so we'll see how if that speeds things up. Though it's hard to tell how quickly it would go away on its own.

Arnica works best when applied with ice right away, but it does still help later so I would keep at it. Now that you have it, keep it on hand. Glad you aren't feeling worse and didn't break your nose or anything.

Poor Terriks. It sounds like an awful incident. I am so glad nothing was broken and that you are feeling a bit better.

The swelling has gone down enough that I tried covering the bruise with makeup. I found some Dermablend I bought a couple of years ago when I had a bad bruise on my arm. From a distance you can't see it. So now I can go out in public without being noticed.

I had some errands to run on Thursday, so I did go out in all my bruised glory. While I was in a parking lot a woman came up to me and asked if I was okay. While I appreciated her concern, I really don't want to draw attention to myself, so I'm happy I can cover it up now.

Glad things are iimproving. Serious bruising always raises eyebrows, but especially on the face, and I wouldn't want to have to explain either Not without a really good story, and I never have one. ;)

At one point, I had wormwood growing in my garden. No, not for absinthe. Not for internal consumption. Just for aesthetics.

I understand that a poltice made from this will markedly reduce bruising and swelling. I tried it, on a few occasions. Worked wonderfully. But if it not to hand right now....

But so very glad things are improving!