Why Do Bruises Turn Green, Then Yellow? Inside the Cleanup

Why do bruises turn green, then yellow? Because under your skin, a cleanup crew is taking your own blood apart. Here are the bruise color stages explained, from red and blue to green biliverdin and yellow bilirubin. We follow one bruise from the bump to the last yellow fade: why bruises look blue, why bruises turn yellow, where the iron goes, and the surprising gas your body makes along the way. Then we ask why mammals take the long way from green to yellow, meet lizards with green blood, and test whether you can tell how old a bruise is by its color. 00:00 Why do bruises change color? 00:52 What is a bruise? Inside the bump 01:49 Why do bruises look blue or purple? 02:25 Hemoglobin, heme and iron 02:55 Macrophages: the bruise cleanup crew 03:32 Why bruises turn green: biliverdin 04:04 Why bruises turn yellow: bilirubin 04:28 Where the iron goes: ferritin 04:58 How bilirubin leaves your body 05:39 Your body recycles blood every second 06:19 Why your body saves iron 06:47 Your bruise makes carbon monoxide 07:42 Why mammals make yellow bilirubin 08:49 Green-blooded lizards 09:27 Can you tell a bruise's age by its color? 10:16 Bruise myths 10:30 Reading a bruise, color by color Sources: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25772... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21085... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15665... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1748358/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7305981/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... Narration voice: Qwen3-TTS (synthetic). All animation, music and sound are original. This video explains physiology and is not medical advice. #bruise #blood #humanbody