Easy bruising can be a sign of an underlying condition and a higher risk of bleeding overall. Risk factors for easy bruising include older age and taking blood-thinning medications. Older adults often bruise more easily because the skin becomes less flexible with age, and there is less fat to protect the blood vessels.

Signs of easy bruising

This means it’s a substance that actually relaxes the muscular walls of the blood vessels and allows more blood to flow to the skin and tissues — aka a blood thinner. For resources related to AUD, including how to get support, please visit the NIH website. We’ve also partnered with Moderation Management, a non-profit dedicated to reducing the harm caused by the misuse of alcohol. While there is no direct relationship between alcohol and hair loss, heavy drinking may lead to other issues that thin out your locks.

Your favorite drink can cause breast cancer – but most women in the US aren’t aware of alcohol’s health risks

The early signs of alcoholic liver disease are vague and affect a range of systems in the body. You can improve the health of your liver by abstaining from alcohol or only drinking in moderation, eating a healthy diet, and managing your weight. If you notice early signs of alcohol-related liver disease, be sure what causes bruising in alcoholics to follow up with your doctor. Some conditions can make it harder for your blood to clot, which may increase your chance of bruising and bleeding. People with von Willebrand disease (about 1%-2% of the population have this) make little or no von Willebrand protein, which is important for blood clotting.

Graduate School of Addiction Studies

Since nutritional deficiencies are partly to blame for alcoholic neuropathy. To combat these deficiencies, supplementation with vitamin B12, folate, vitamin E, and thiamine may be recommended. Alcohol also alters the function of the stomach, liver, and kidneys in ways that prevent the body from properly detoxifying waste material. This waste then builds up and harms many regions of the body, including the nerves. Unfortunately, once a bruise has formed, not much can be done to treat it. Most bruises eventually disappear as the body reabsorbs the blood, although healing might take longer as you age.

• As you age, your skin gets thinner and you lose some of the layer of fat that cushions your blood vessels and protects you from injury.
• Alcohol also interferes with the production and function of white blood cells, especially those that defend the body against invading bacteria.
• If damage persists, alcoholic cirrhosis can develop, which can’t be reversed.

Signs and symptoms

Light touch can feel exaggerated and painful, particularly in the fingers and toes. If the sensation is decreased enough, you may feel actual numbness after drinking alcohol. People with a lengthy history of alcohol misuse might experience loss of balance, pain, tingling, weakness, or numbness after drinking alcohol. Heidi Moawad is a neurologist and expert in the field of brain health and neurological disorders.

• When a blood vessel is injured, platelets are attracted to the site of the injury, where they aggregate to form a temporary plug.
• Overall, the presence of oxidative stress is balanced by cellular stress response systems, both those that prevent accumulation of oxidative stress and those that repair damage caused by oxidative species.
• In compensated cirrhosis, the liver remains functioning, and many people have no symptoms.
• But bruising shouldn’t always be dismissed so easily, says hematologist Dana Angelini, MD.
• In fact, low MAO activity in the platelets and other tissues of certain alcoholics is the most replicated biological finding in genetic alcoholism research.

What are the early signs of liver damage from alcohol?

• This initially takes the form of increased fat in your liver, but over time it can lead to inflammation and the accumulation of scar tissue.
• If you have a bruise on your arm or leg and signs of a blood clot in the same limb, call your doctor.
• A comprehensive communication approach to increase awareness of alcohol’s harms and its link to cancer can help support and encourage women to make healthier choices regarding alcohol use.
• 4Platelets actually are not intact cells but disc-shaped cell fragments without nuclei that are released from giant precursor cells in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes.