So things got a little hotter and heavier than you expected last night, and now you’ve got a hickey. Hickeys typically show up on the neck, lips, or any site of passionate kissing. Hickeys appear when blood vessels under the skin are broken, leaving a bruise. Some call it a love bite, others call it embarrassing. But hey, no judgment! It happens to everyone. However, having a hickey as an adult can bring back all the humiliation of having a hickey as a teenager.
Hickeys can last anywhere from a few days to up to 2 weeks, which can mean turtlenecks, scarves, or a lot of concealer in your future. Nothing will make a hickey go away instantly, but there are some ways to speed up the healing process of a hickey. From a cold spoon to scraping your hickey with a coin, read on for the best tips and tricks to get rid of a hickey fast.
How to Get Rid of a Hickey Quickly with a Cold Compress
A cold compress can help reduce the swelling of a new bruise, aka a hickey. The sooner you do this treatment, the more quickly you can get rid of a hickey. This is because the cold temperature helps constrict the blood vessels, thus slowing the flow of blood from the vessels to the skin. For this technique, you can use an ice pack, a cold and damp cloth, or a cold spoon. Simply apply your cold compress to the hickey for 10 minutes several times per day for the first 2 days of having your hickey.
How to Get Rid of a Hickey ASAP with a Coin or a Whisk
If you want to know how to get rid of a hickey in minutes, reach for a whisk! This TikTok viral, doctor-approved hickey removal technique claims to get rid of the blemish in 5 minutes. Basically, you just grab a metal whisk and literally whisk your hickey. This technique helps break up the bruise and prevents the blood from spreading. The whisk may not make your hickey disappear entirely, but it can make it look less pronounced.
There’s also the coin trick, which allegedly can be used to get rid of a hickey in an hour or so. A Reddit user claims that scraping a coin, like a quarter, “starting from the middle and going out all around the hickey” can remove the blemish in “an hour or two.”
Is There Medicine That Can Get Rid of a Hickey?
A health professional can’t exactly prescribe hickey-specific medicine to make a hickey go away, but there are some topical treatments that can help reduce the bruising and speed up the healing process of a hickey.
Arnica gels or creams may help clear up a hickey faster. Arnica is an herb with healing properties and creams or gels that use it can be purchased over the counter. There are also topical vitamins, like topical vitamin C or K, that can help heal a hickey faster.
If you are super desperate, you could ask a medical professional about laser removal for a hickey in the first two days after it shows up, but we wouldn’t recommend that extreme of a measure.
How to Hide a Hickey
If none of these techniques work, or if you weren’t able to get rid of a hickey fast enough and the window has closed, you can always hide a hickey.
Makeup is an option. There are tons of hickey-hiding makeup hacks available on TikTok. People often use a green color-correcting concealer as their base to reduce the redness of a hickey. Then, they go over it with a yellow color corrector to reduce the purple.
And there’s always good old-fashioned fashion! Whether it’s with a scarf, turtleneck, or bandana, turn your hickey into a fashion statement!
How to Avoid Hickeys in the First Place
Of course, the best cure for a hickey is to not get a hickey in the first place, and that starts with good communication. If you want to avoid a hickey, ask your partner to be more gentle. Also, if you notice that they’re spending too much time in a particular area, suggest they move their mouth elsewhere. Happy hickey-avoiding!
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