Skin Disorders

Bateman's Purpura Information and Treatment

Bateman's Purpura is a skin disorder which is mainly found among youth, but it can easily occur to the people of any age. These are extremely common lesions, particularly in the elderly. They result from very minor trauma which the patient may not even remember. The one depicted here is very dark. Lesions are ecchymoses (essentially bruises), and can be any shade from blue to black, depending upon the age of the lesion. Often, many are present on each arm, the characteristic location. They heal with a whitish, irregularly shaped scar, called a stellate pseudoscar. The skin appears thin and wrinkly, almost flimsy looking.

Bateman's purpura refers to flat, irregular, purple lesions that appear on your skin as you get older. The skin appears thin and wrinkly, almost flimsy looking. They are common, but not dangerous. These lesions usually appear on the back of the hands and the forearms. These flat blotches start out red, then turn purple, darken a bit further and eventually fade. They differ from normal bruises in several ways. First, usually there wasn't much of a knock or injury to cause them. Second, the are not tender. Finally, they last longer than normal bruises, often a few weeks.