Why are bruises not lethal?

Question

Given the following:* bruises are caused by minor trauma which breaks blood vessels beneath the skin, causing bleeding* the mechanism by which bleeding stops is clotting* blood clots inside the body have an unfortunate tendency to get into the bloodstream and cause blockages, leading to severe problems such as strokes or heart attackswhy is it that people don't die from bruises? What mechanism does the human body have to keep this from happening?

Answer 1

not to get too deep into the clotting cascade, but there are a number of substances in the body that breakdown clots so they do not end up in our lungs or brain- where they can cause death. clotting is designed to stop blood from leaking out of breaks in vessel walls. in that sense it is more of a repair mechanism. the blood that has already leaked out will be cleared via the lymphatic system (for the most part)