Hickeys: Not Your Average Vampire Bite

An innocent love bite or a kiss of death?

Photo+courtesy+of+imgarcade.com.

Photo courtesy of imgarcade.com.

Jordan Staten, Tom Tom Staff

Other than the fact that hickeys are looked down upon in society, what is the harm with two people showing off their intimacy? Recently, it has been found that the one seemingly innocent love bite is not so innocent. Doctors were alarmed when a hickey on a woman’s neck in New Zealand appeared to be the cause of her death.

After loss of movement in her arm, this woman from New Zealand drove herself to the hospital. Doctors were baffled due to the fact that they realized she had a stroke and after tremendous research, they could not figure out why. After extensive time was spent working at this mysterious occurrence, the doctors realized a fading bruise on the right side of their patient’s neck.

It was not hard to figure out what exactly this bruise was from. Immediately they knew that this “bruise” was simply a love bite, also known as a hickey. Underneath this bruise they found a blood clot due to the suction on the surface of the skin. This caused damage to the artery, loss of movement in the patient’s arm and ultimately a traumatic stroke.

It has been noticed more and more in today’s society that some girls and boys take pride in these love bites and think that it shows off how “popular” and “cool” they are. This theory is one that kids need to be told is wrong. Not to mention the fact that hickeys come off as trashy, they are proven to be dangerous and even deadly.

The public and social humiliation and physical damage is not worth the consequence for seconds of intimacy. Classy and clean should always be  a goal. Strive for those and you will prosper emotionally, physically and intimately.