Bleeding stretch marks: causes, care and warning signs

Press a clean cloth gently against the area, avoid picking it and protect the skin from friction. Ongoing bleeding or signs of infection deserve medical assessment.

A newer stretch mark can look red or purple because small blood vessels show through thinned skin, but that colour is not the same as active bleeding. Blood on the surface points to a crack, scratch, shaving injury or another skin lesion in the same area.

Dryness and itching can lead to rubbing that opens the skin. Increasing warmth, tenderness, swelling, pus or spreading redness can accompany infection and should not be treated as a cosmetic stretch-mark issue.

Wash your hands, rinse the area gently with clean water and hold steady pressure with clean gauze or cloth. Once bleeding stops, use a simple non-irritating dressing if clothing rubs the spot.

Pause scrubs, acids, retinoids, fragranced products and at-home devices until the surface has healed. Procedures such as microneedling, RF microneedling, fractional laser treatment or carboxytherapy should only be considered after a clinician has identified the cause and confirmed that the skin is intact.

Seek urgent help if firm pressure does not stop the bleeding, the wound is deep, you feel faint, or blood is flowing heavily. Arrange prompt assessment for repeated unexplained bleeding, worsening pain, fever, pus, spreading redness or a changing lump or sore within the mark.

Tell the clinician about medicines or health conditions that affect bleeding or wound healing. Do not stop prescribed medicine on your own.

Ask whether the blood came from a superficial injury or a separate skin problem, what dressing is suitable, which products to avoid while healing and when cosmetic treatment could be reconsidered.