Child Physical Abuse

Closed soft tissue injuries will generally present with the following characteristics:

Age of Bruise - Color of Bruise

0-2 days old - Red, swollen, and tender

2-5 days old - Blue or purple

5-7 days old - Green

7-10 days old - Yellow

10-14 days old - Brown

2 – 4 weeks old - No bruising evident

While these guidelines don’t allow for precise aging, they do provide enough information to differentiate between newer and older lesions. When considering Dr. Henry Kempe’s “Battered Child Syndrome” and its assertion that child abuse happens in recurring patterns, the ability to determine relative ages of injuries is critically important.

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