Sex And Hickeys

I got a very funny phone call this week. My friend, Xavier rang me, sounding very worried over the phone so I was scared & at the edge of my seat, thinking something of great importance was amiss.

He told me he’s noticed a black patch always appears on his neck after a long kissing session with the girlfriend and he’s very worried it could be a symptom of a sexually transmitted disease. LOL

This “black patch” is known as a hickey or love bite. A love bite is temporal red mark on the skin caused by excessive kissing or sucking–with enough force to break open some blood vessels around the surface or beneath the skin. It can appear as a bruise or mark.

It appears during/after foreplay hence the name, passion mark, love-mark or love patch. It can be afflicted on any part of the skin but the commonest areas are the neck and arm.

Its effect is just superficial and is never dangerous. The biting is believed to be the cause of the hickey while sucking is sufficient to burst superficial small blood vessels under the skin.

Some hickeys disappear after just a day while others take up to a maximum of 5 days to vanish completely. However, you can work on speeding up its disappearance by applying ice on the hickey to reduce the swelling, rubbing them with a chilled spoon to break up blood clots, and applying a warm compress to older hickeys to dilate vessels and promote blood flow.

Alternatively, you can cover an exposed hickey by wearing a turtle neck top, long-sleeve or sweater, or even a scarf to avoid others from seeing your love bite. For the ladies, make up will do the magic, they can be covered with foundation, powder and fake tan.

As for guys, well you can buy a gauze bandage and plaster, cover your hickey, and think of a really good story about your bogus injury.