The patient may have bruising around the incision or in the lower part of the incision after hip replacement surgery. Sometimes bruising may even track down to the calf. If not excessive, this bruising is considered normal. It is due to the blood that accumulates in the soft tissues after hip replacement surgery.
The patients who are on blood thinners before the surgery (example for atrial fibrillation who were taking Coumadin) may notice additional bruising after hip replacement surgery on that extremity. The patients who have had bruising in their upper extremity from taking blood thinners may notice slightly more bruising in the lower extremity than the patients who are not taking blood thinners.