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47⬅ Donald Trump: Generalized Bruising

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Chronic generalized bruising

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Bruising appeared on Trump's left hand in July 2022 (or earlier) and the right hand soon after. Later, his face and both forearms can be seen to be bruised, making this a clear case of generalized bruising SEE BELOW.

Trump's medical reports acknowledge only the bruising on the hands. They offer the untenable diagnosis that a combination of taking aspirin plus trauma from handshaking is responsible for the bruising and is "benign." Comment: The proposed diagnosis is so inadequate that it can serve no purpose other than misleading the public away from some other disease. Numerous commentators have noted that handshaking does not disturb the left hand 1, and so the presidential physician's diagnosis is not even consistent with the findings in his own report. Alas, evasive medical reports have long plagued America.

Bruising (called "ecchymosis" medically) is a hallmark of systemic amyloidosis.

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Introduction

Bruising on Trump's hands has been widely reported in the press. However, his bruising is generalized — it has also existed (and may still exist) on his face, forearms, and possibly right wrist, as this page will show. Photos show that hand bruising existed as early as mid-2022.

White House responses

This collection is not complete.

May 2026:

The president's May 2026 report says only this about his skin MORE:
Dermatologic: Examination of the dorsal hands revealed ecchymosis (bruising), consistent with minor soft tissue irritation related to frequent handshaking in the setting of aspirin use for cardiovascular prevention. This represents a common and benign effect of aspirin therapy. No suspicious lesions or growths identified.
Comment: "Dorsal hands" means the back of the hands, i.e. not the palms. Many commentators have noted that the proffered explanation does not account for bruising on the non-handshaking left hand, but they have missed the larger point that the report, as written, does not say whether bruising afflicts any other region of the skin. The report does this in two ways: by omitting the simple statement "No other bruising noted" and by including the weasel word "suspicious" ("Hey, this is lesion is not suspicious. I know exactly what it is. It is a bruise."). Such criticisms may seem like hair-splitting, but (a) we can be certain that if there were no other bruising the physician would announce it in a New York minute, and (b) such distinctions matter to the report's author.
January 2026:
In an interview 2, Trump told a journalist, referring to right-hand-bruising, "This is only from shaking hands." He then turned to his physician and asked, "Can you just verify that?" to which the physician responded: "Absolutely... I've seen the president shaking hands for over an hour." Holding up his left hand, Trump continued. "Look, this one's perfect... People say, `What beautiful skin you have.'"

Comment: "Shaking hands for an hour" is neither a verification nor exceptional. For example, Calvin Coolidge would tally and brag to his wife about the number of hands he shook per hour. James Polk could (and did) shake hands all day MORE. Herbert Hoover shook thousands of hands in one day. And... Trump appears to have sun-damaged, not beautiful, skin.

January 2026:
Asked about a bruise on his *left* hand on Jan. 22, 2026, Trump said "I clipped it on a table," then continued by talking about aspirin's effect on bruising 3, repeating a theme he gave to the press three weeks earlier 4.
Comment: The major press outlets have rolled over and accepted these statements.

Right hand — earliest appearances

The press first noted Tump's hand bruising in February 2025 5. A White House spokesperson immediately attributed it to handshaking, and that position has never changed, despite clear evidence of bruising beyond the right hand 5.

Photos showing bruising well before 2025, light at first, darkening over time.


9/3/2022
1/28/2023

6/13/2023
7/15/2023

(Shadowing is not a concern in the 1/28/2023 image. The shadow running down the thumb shows that the light is coming from where your head is now!)

Credits:

Right hand — later appearances

Interest in Trump's hand bruising increased through the first half of 2025, culminating in a statement from the president's physician in July 2025 MORE:
Recent photos of the President have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy.
Comment: Notice that this weasel-worded statement violates a basic principle of being a physician: to examine the patient. It speaks of "recent photos" rather than saying what the physician found on physical examination. This dodge covers up the bruising on both hands. It also allows enables a diagnosis (handshaking plus aspirin) that would not work if he admitted both hands were bruised.

Trump's hands are often seen with concealing make-up applied, sometimes more skillfully than other times. Sometimes the fine wrinkles in the skin on the back of his right hand are not visible — i.e. they are effaced — suggesting he uses something like Tegaderm as a covering.

Here is an interesting close-up description of Trump's hand in January 2026: "His right hand, warm and soft during our handshake, looked like rhino hide on the back: dry and gray, the notorious bruise spread out like an inkblot test" 2.

Band-aids have been seen at least twice MORE.

This looks like an ulcer (April 11, 2025), but the resolution of the photo is too poor to be sure:


Apr. 11, 2025
Aug.25, 2025
Credits:

Left hand

With the right hand getting more attention, it is easy to overlook the prominent bruise that the left hand showed in July 2022.


7/20/2022
8/11/2023

2/24/2025
8/25/2025

1/22/2026
Credits:

Face — left side — April 2025

The bruising is mainly seen front-below the left ear. The location is consistent over a period of years. (Could it be due to minor skin trauma from CPAP equipment?)

It is not often visible, but of course Trump wears make-up.

Some of these photos suggest bruising below the left eye, but I am not ready to rule out the possibility that shadow is responsible.

The bruising is most prominent in the photo where Trump is blowing a whistle, i.e. performing a Valsalva maneuver. An arterio-venous malformation could behave in this way, but I'm not ready to accept that either.

A better counter-hypothesis would be that the "bruising" is just a gigantic age spot — too big to be a typical age spot. Color analysis could help sort that out, but the make-up complicates things. If it is an age spot, however, it would have appeared slowly over years (someone may wish to chase this down).

Aug. 11, 2023
 
April 3, 2025
 
April 21, 2025
 
April 26, 2025

Denser facial coloring treatments might be used to cover bruising. Response: The point is well taken that watching for changes in Trump's facial make-up over time could be revealing. This is complicated, however, because lighting variations (indoor/outdoor, fluorescent/incandescent, cloudy/clear) can greatly affect the perceived color of a surface. Perhaps using the adjacent white collar as a spectral control could remove this variability.

Credits:

Right forearm 2026 (Aug. 8)

The coloration of the bruises suggests they have been there for a time. The scar on the forearm is discussed elsewhere MORE.

Credit:Dennis Schneidler / Imagn Images
https://imagn.com/setImages/881590/preview/29543862

Left forearm 2026 (Sep. 7)

Credit: daterightstuff on X.com via The Daily Beast
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bruise-covered-trump-80-shows-his-age-in-jarring-new-photos/

Right wrist 2024 (July 13)

When Trump raised his right fist after being shot in Butler, PA in July 2024, there were markings on the underside of his wrist that could be dirt smudges or could be bruising. (Photos here → MORE.)

If they were bruises his fall onto the Butler platform could not have caused them, because it was literally seconds after the fall that the photographs were taken. Bruising does not occur that fast. Bleeding occurs that fast, and the lesions do not look like bleeding.

Thus, if those are bruises, they would be further evidence of the generalized nature of Trump's bruising.

Tricky Shadows

Do not get fooled by shadows when assessing bruising. For example, in the image below, patches that look like faint bruising appear on the side of the pointing finger and on the side of the 5th knuckle (on the side of the hand) and even in the wrist crease on the side of the wrist. But I do not think these are bruises. For Trump, it is not usual to find bruises in these zones, and all of these areas would be in shadow if light is coming from the top-right of the image.

Jan. 22, 2026

Here is an even trickier example. The photo on left gave me chills when I first saw it. The color and position of the "bruise" evoke the famous "raccoon eyes" sign of amyloidosis. However, the other photos, taken during the same meeting (although different photographers), shows that this is a shadow artifact.

April 30, 2025
Credits:
Cited Sources
  1. Reiner, Jonathan. I Was Dick Cheney's Cardiologist. Trump Has Not Looked Well, and We Should Know Why. New York Times. Aug. 12, 2026.   Available on the web at: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/opinion/trump-health-questions.html
  2. Terris, Ben. "The superhuman president:" a good-faith attempt to ascertain the truth about Donald Trump's health. New York Magazine. Jan. 26, 2026.   Available on the web at: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-addresses-health-hand-bruise-stroke-mri-greenland.html
  3. Moses, Claire. Trump Says He Bruised His Hand on a Table. New York Times. Jan. 23, 2026.   Available on the web at: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/us/politics/trump-hand-bruise-aspirin-table.html
  4. Linskey A, Dawsey J, McGraw M. As Signs of Aging Emerge, Trump Responds With Defiance. Wall Street Journal. Jan. 1, 2026.   Available on the web at: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/as-signs-of-aging-emerge-trump-responds-with-defiance-769c5dcd
  5. Kile, Meredith. Donald Trump, 78, Spotted with Large Mystery Bruise on His Hand During High-Profile Meeting. Here's What It Could Mean. People. Feb. 26, 2025.   Available on the web at: https://people.com/donald-trump-large-hand-bruise-emmanuel-macron-meeting-11686810
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