Article published in a medical journal!
I wanted to congratulate Ms. Rosheen Kamal, a medical student from the Kansas City University who shadowed my plastic surgery practice last year. She recently published a case report in the Visual Journal of Emergency Medicine on a patient who required plastic surgery after a complication from a blood thinner.
Blood Thinners Awareness
We have seen advertisements on TV of actors playing tennis talking about blood thinners…. The actors are attractive, they play tennis well, and say, “Ask your doctor, if this blood thinner is for you!”
The commercial ends with a rapidly spoken statement “to call a doctor if you experience bleeding, heavy bruising….”
Several times a year I see patients who have had skin death from a bruise. Most of these patients are on blood thinner therapy. While blood thinners can prevent stroke and heart attack, blood thinners also have risks.
Blood Thinners and Plastic Surgery
Ms. Kamal wrote up a case report on a patient who bumped her leg at home during a fall. The patient presented to a local Northern Virginia emergency room where she was diagnosed with a bruise and sent home. This is the correct recommendation in most cases!
Unfortunately, the patient’s blood thinner caused the bruise to expand. The pressure from the expanding bruise killed the patient’s skin. The patient required plastic surgery to heal the wound.
This is the first report of its kind published in the medical literature.
I wanted to send a special thank you to the patient and her family who gave permission and provided the photographs for publication. With greater awareness, I hope that more cases like this* can be prevented.
(*Note: Free link to article expires April 04, 2026).
Sincerely,
