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If you’re here because you searched “how to get rid of a hickey,” I offer you my congratulations on what must have been a fun night… No one looks that up without a reason. (Wink. Wink.)
But as much fun as you had getting that hickey, there’s nothing less enjoyable than the prospect of your mom, your boss, or anyone else seeing that thing. While you can’t “get rid” of a hickey immediately, you can treat and cover one. Doing a few simple tricks can help speed up the time until it heals—and keep your private business private in the interim.
So, here’s what dermatologists and makeup artists recommended when I asked them how to get rid of a love bite.
The first thing you should know is that you’re dealing with something that isn’t different from a regular bruise. As such, you’re looking at a similar healing process and timeline, says Elizabeth Bahar Houshmand, MD, FAAD, and a double board-certified dermatologist based in Dallas, Texas.
“Medically, there is no real difference,” she explains. “However, the cause is different. Bruises can be any shape and are generally due to inward pressure from accidentally hitting a body part on something hard. Hickeys are typically oval, made by a mouth from suction.”
It’s easier for that suction to break blood vessels and capillaries under thinner skin, which is why the neck and chest are more prone to getting marked up with love bites.
How long does it take for a hickey to heal?
How long do hickeys last? It may look gnarly, turning from red and purple to yellow and green over a week or so—but it can’t hurt you, which should at least be comforting. There is no medical or health risk to having a hickey, according to both Houshmand and Mona Sadeghpour, MD, a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and a board-certified dermatologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In other words, don’t bother asking how to get rid of a hickey fast. It will take some time to heal, though there are ways to treat and hide it in the meantime.
How to get rid of a hickey
Even though it’s harmless, you still probably don’t want a hickey visible. So here’s what pros recommend for prevention, treatment, and coverage.
1.Try arnica for its anti-bruise properties
If you’ve ever gone into the medspa for some injectables and left with advice from your practitioner to pick up some arnica gel on the way home, you’ve already run across one of the methods that can help you out here and may not even realize it. Injectors and surgeons recommend arnica all the time because it’s a homeopathic and easy way to combat bruising.
As Sadeghpour puts it, “Essentially anything that can help a bruise go away more quickly will also make a hickey resolve more rapidly.” That includes application of topical arnica. I’ve had this tube from DuLac, below, for ages and use it whenever I get a bruise of any kind.
2. Or try vitamin K to heal that hickey
Sadeghpour also suggests topical application of vitamin K, which one study says may be even more effective than arnica for bruise reduction. You can get vitamin K creams on their own, but a lot of the ones marketed toward bruise reduction come in vitamin K-arnica combos for maximum benefit.
3. Don’t forget your retinol
The same study mentioned above also tested the effects of retinol on a bruise. While it wasn’t as significant as arnica or vitamin K, it still has a place in your hickey-fighting rotation. A combination of 1% vitamin K and .3% retinol has been shown to be beneficial in hastening healing, which makes sense given that retinol works by increasing cell turnover. If you already use retinol in your skincare routine, don’t be afraid to put a little bit over the offending hickey.
4. Consider oral treatments for hickeys
It was someone else’s mouth that got you into this, but it can be your mouth that helps get you out. Arnica can be ingested in pill form and so can bromelain, according to Sadeghpour. What’s bromelain, you ask? It’s an enzyme extract that comes from pineapples and has been used for years to help with bruising, which means you can take it in a tablet or just give yourself an excuse to munch on a tasty, fruity snack.
5. In-office treatment is a hickey-busting option
There isn’t much a medical professional can do to hasten the rate at which a hickey bruise heals except use a special laser.
“In the office, we can treat the area with a pulsed dye laser (PDL) that can be used for bruises or blood vessels to speed up the healing time,” explains Houshmand. Per Sadeghpour, some pros even have intense pulsed light (IPL) machines that can be used. No matter which laser you choose, make sure the derm you’re seeing is board-certified.
How to prevent a hickey
I won’t tell you not to let a partner nibble on you if you want to—it’s your choice!—but there are a few preventive measures you can keep in mind if you don’t want a visible love bite next time. First, remember that, as Houshmand taught us, areas like the neck or decolletage are prone to hickeys because the skin there is so thin. Guide your partner’s head elsewhere if you want to wear a v-neck any time in the next two weeks. Think about it: A hickey hidden in a more private area that only you and your partner know about is kind of hot, no?
Houshmand adds, “Maintaining a good skin barrier is always recommended in general but will not necessarily be preventative.” Basically, stay on top of your skin- and self-care regimens, the same way you might drink cranberry juice or take cranberry capsules to boost your urinary tract health before you get a UTI.
“Anything that can help strengthen blood vessels and prevent them from rupturing can make the skin less susceptible to hickeys or bruises in general,” says Sadeghpour. Though science hasn’t quite figured out a surefire way to control blood vessel strength, the expert adds, “there is some evidence that taking oral vitamin C (1000 mg daily), especially in combination with certain antioxidants such as bioflavonoids, rutoside, or rose hips can be helpful in supporting blood vessel strength and hasten the resolution of skin bruises.”
How to cover a hickey
While you’re slathering your hickey in creams, devouring pineapple, and/or contemplating a laser treatment, you still want to cover that bad boy up so you can look a little more presentable. Here are some tricks for how to remove a hickey beyond the old scarf or turtleneck trick.
1.Before you cover a hickey, prepare the site
Rachel Pearl DeFluri, a makeup artist and model in New York City, says the first step to coverage isn’t covering it at all. Rather, it’s preparing the damaged skin so it can hold your makeup well (and, fortunately, unlike a cold sore, you don’t need to wait a few days before you can start covering your hickey with makeup).
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