Purple spots with pressure in injured thumb. BURST VEIN?

Resolved question:
I was moving a couch (w/ my dad) and it slammed my thumb in the doorway. It hit the lower front part of my thumb with intense pressure right above where a vein is. I fear that the vein may have burst. There are 2 small purple/pink dots where it was struck. Is this serious? Will the vein heal if that happened? Can it/will it heal 100%?

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Internal Medicine Specialist

Expert:  Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy replied 4 Days.

Hello,
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern.
The 2 small purple dots just indicate capillary injury and this will heal on it's own.
Don't worry about a vein bursting because, if it was so there would have been intense bleeding inside with the finger turning numb within a few minutes.
Mostly in fingers, we have a lot of small capillaries, and they can be injured in any kind of trauma. However they spontaneously heal. The exact duration can't be predicted, but it should not take more than a week.
So if the finger is not turning numb, there is nothing to worry about.
Let me know if i can help you further,
Regards.

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Patient replied :

Dr. Sebastian, It's been 2 weeks and a day since this injury and I'm still concerned. Your first reply was comforting, though I'm concerned that where the force hit the area (directly below my thumb nuckle and seemingly on top of one of two veins) hasn't healed fully. On my left thumb I can see two veins near/on top on either side of the thumb nuckle, both the same size. Now on my right thumb, when my thumb is positioned lower than my heart to see the veins, I see two veins but the left vein where injury did not occur is at least twice as thick (and smooshy to the touch). The vein whereupon the force occured is there but seemingly stops being visible lower past the point of injury. Why is this? What happened/is happening to my right thumb's veins? I really am upset by this b/c I want all of my veins to function optimally (will this vein ever function correctly again or is it stopped?). Please let me know what's really going on. I appreciate your time so much. Respectfully, Lance


Expert:  Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy replied 3 Days.

Hello,
Thank you for your follow up.
Let me explain how it works in cases of an injury.
The veins or the capillaries being really delicate, are prone to be injured easily. The moment they are even minutely injured, a person with good immunity and defence, will immediately have his platelets rush to the sight of the injury forming a covering or a wall, protecting further bleeding. So there will be minute hemorrhages but within a span of a few seconds the platelets will be already at the sight and attain hemostasis. This also leads to some thickening and slight numbness in the area. Even the other veins being very closely situated, can appear to be inflamed.
So overall assessing your condition, the veins are slightly injured and in some cases they take a long time to heal. But there is nothing alarming. If there was, you would have experienced symptoms such as tingling loss of sensation or numbness or the finger turning cold.
In absence of these symptoms, i can assure you it will take time to heal, but it will heal on it's own.
Also yes though the veins or the capillaries are prone to injury especially in our peripheries, they have excellent recovery potential and the normal function will be restored once it heals completely.
So please do not worry. From my clinical experience i know such injuries in certain cases can take about a month to heal. But that doesn't mean there will be long term problems.
Regards.

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Patient replied :

Dr. Sebastian, Thanks so much for your fast response. Just a few days ago, the area around the injury (about the size of a quarter) was yellowish-green. Was this color for about 5 days, but only started to be this color about 10 days after the incident. I forgot to ask you about that. Is that normal and what does it mean? Please keep in mind this was a 200-300 lb couch being carried inside of a house by me and one other person and my thumb was hit (by the couch ramming it into the wooden frame of the house: a very hard wooden 90 degree edge) right below the thumb knuckle seemingly on top of one of the two veins I see on the top of my thumb. It thankfully only lasted 1-2 seconds, however I'm still concerned (however your responses are helping me through this and for that I'm really grateful). This is likely my last followup question (re: the color). Appreciate your responses so much! I really wanted to address this with an expert who knows exactly what's happening under my skin and you're clearly the right (and extremely knowledgeable) doctor. Respectfully, Lance


Expert:  Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy replied 2 Days.

Hello Mr. Lance,
I will start by thaking you for your kind words. And I am glad i was clear in explaining.
The bruising patterns change over a perod and as the injury keeps healing itself there are color changes ( purple- bluish- yellowish-green- more reddish- and then fainly it turns into skin color ). Not necessarily in the same order, but there are color changes like that. It entirel depends on how it is healing.
I can assure you, it is healing slowly and gradually and there is no concern about your vein being dysfunctional in the future.

Regards.

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