TikTokers say they can reduce their hickeys with a kitchen whisk. Doctors explain why it may work, and what the potential risks are.
- TikTok users are using whisks to try and get rid of their hickeys.
- According to doctors, this method could be effective in reducing their appearance.
- Overall, doctors think it's mostly safe, but there could be a risk of injury in certain cases.
Some TikTokers are trying to hide evidence of their makeout sessions by massaging their hickeys with whisks.
On September 13, TikTok user @thesecrethoebag posted a video that has been viewed 38 million times. In it, she used a technique that circulated around the app in January, where she rubbed a metal whisk over the red mark on her neck, known colloquially as a hickey, or a love bite.
Madisson Larocque, who has 65,000 followers on the app, originally received 13.5 million views on a TikTok video in January where she demonstrated the method of whisking away the bruise her boyfriend had left on her neck. The video appears to have resurfaced recently, as there are a number of comments from this month from people who have given it a go.
"Ladies and gents, let me put you on something, OK?" Larocque said in the video, which has 2.5 million likes. "My boyfriend was over. Got a little hickey. Like, you can't see it now because I've been doing this technique, and I need to show it to you. It is the simplest thing."
Larocque then showed the camera what the hickey looked like before - a large, red blotch on her neck - and how it was far less pronounced after she rubbed the whisk over her neck.
Spencer Hunt, better known as @spencewuah on TikTok where he has over 10 million followers, also tried out Larocque's technique. He set a timer for five minutes as a test.
"It works, it works," he concluded of the final result. "It's like fading. It's fading. You, my friend, are a lifesaver."
The method probably won't cause any damage, but there is a small risk
Pediatrician Dr. David Shafran, the head of pediatrics at online healthcare company K Health, told Insider a hickey is caused by suction on the skin which causes damage to the walls of small blood vessels. The vessels then leak into the tissue surrounding them called the "interstitium," which causes discoloration or bruising. If left alone, the leaked blood reabsorbs over time on its own "like any other bruise," he said.
According to Dr. Shafran, this method may work because the pressure from the whisk breaks up the clotted blood that's accumulated under the skin for faster reabsorption. He said doing this when the hickey is fresh and has not yet "stained" the subcutaneous tissue is probably when it would work best, and stimulating the area also increases blood flow, which may speed up the healing process.
"You can actually see that the area on her neck is flushed due to the increased blood flow induced by manipulation of the skin," Dr. Shafran said.
Dermatologist Dr. Beth Goldstein, founder of Central Dermatology Center in North Carolina, told Insider there may be a chance of injury by using this technique. She said she would recommend "time and coverup makeup" to address the mark you want to hide rather than "create more injury."
However, the chances of whisking hickeys being harmful is low, Dr Shafran said. He said it's hypothetically possible to damage to carotid area - the major blood vessels in the neck - due to the location of the hickey, but "I'd have to imagine that to be exceedingly rare."
"Still, if the contusion were extensive enough, I'd caution applying too much pressure with an egg beater," he said. "Or any kitchen utensil for that matter."