When you or someone else has an opioid use disorder, the first step is to identify it. Addiction is ultimately hard to hide in the long run. However, identifying it in its early stages can be difficult. In order to achieve the strongest high, heroin is often administered intravenously, leaving a permanent mark.
Those trying to hide their heroin use may wear long sleeves even when it might be conspicuous, such as in a warm climate. If you catch someone injecting heroin, you might notice that their arms will have track marks. But what are track marks, and how do they look?
What Are Heroin Track Marks?
Track marks on the skin created by heroin use are discolored veins that are often left behind by intravenous use of heroin. Heroin does not cause these marks, but several other factors often accompany injected drug use, including the following:
- Physical damage. Using drugs for a long period of time can lead to repeated injections at the same injection site. Doctors and nurses avoid causing damage to veins with needles by using skillful injection techniques and verifying vein use to prevent damage. Scarring can result in discoloration if it is repeated.
- Blunt needles. In older needles, the point wears off, which leads to dull needles causing more damage to the vein. Blunt needles can also cause scarring and bruising, especially over time in chronic cases.
- Infections. Infections around the injection site can result in potentially serious medical complications, but they can also cause visible discoloration, swelling, pus discharge, redness, and yellowing.
- Contaminants. There are many contaminants and adulterants in street heroin. Some of these additives are inert and are not active ingredients, but even starch, sugar, and baking soda can be harmful when injected. It is possible for some substances to damage veins or clump up, causing collapsed lungs and vein damage.
What Do Heroin Track Marks Look Like?
It’s no secret that tracks are some of the most identifiable signs of injected drug use. However, they can differ from person to person, depending on a variety of factors. Depending on how recently the heroin injection occurred and how long the drug was injected, track marks can have different appearances. Track marks are often found on the inner elbow, but heroin and other intravenous drugs can also be injected into the wrist, hands, or legs.
Bruising and redness may appear around the injection site after recent injections. As the bruise ages, it may fade to a pale yellow or greenish color. Older injection sites may look darker and drier than the surrounding skin. A vein may be punctured up and down the arms, leaving multiple red or dark circles on each vein.
In addition to collapsed veins, long-term intravenous drug users may also develop raised, bumpy, or sunken veins beneath their skin, which may appear blue or purple. A collapsed vein can cause a blocked flow, which could lead to bruising, or if it occurs in a primary vein that leads to the heart, it can be dangerous. When the vein creates raised or bumpy textures, it causes a blocked flow, which can lead to a rupture.
Do Old Track Marks Go Away?
A heroin needle track may go away quickly, while others may linger for a long time, just as any scar does. The length of time it may take for a
heroin needle track to completely heal depends on several factors. Using intravenous drugs in the same vein repeatedly may cause track marks to form. The more you use the vein, the more it may become irritated, causing a lasting scar. You may also need to consider the contents of your needles when using them.
The scarring may occur with high-purity heroin, but the damage may be more severe with other adulterants. It is no secret that toxic chemicals are extremely dangerous and damaging on many levels. Strychnine, soil bacteria, and fungi are some of the toxic chemicals that are sometimes mixed with heroin and other illegal drugs.
It is also possible for dirty, reused needles to develop infections and irritations, resulting in more scarring and longer healing times. However, clean, reused needles may still cause damage. In addition to being duller than new needles, used needles may open larger holes and leave lasting scars, making it harder to get into veins.
Despite the fact that inert substances are not chemically active, they can be used to adulterate heroin, which can be dangerous. Starch, powdered milk, and chalk are examples of white powders that can be used to cut heroin. Depending on the type of powder, certain powders can coagulate when exposed to liquids or changes in temperature. The solution may become thick and solid in your body if you inject it as a liquid.
Clotting can cause serious problems, such as deep vein thrombosis, heart attacks, and strokes. You may also experience vein collapse, leaving them raised, bumpy, or discolored. Some collapsed veins can heal, but some are permanent.
Why Do Track Marks Happen?
It is possible for blood to leak out of the vein, causing the bruise, which can make track marks appear bruised. Veins darken as a result of scarring and toxin buildup, creating tracks along their length. It is possible to rupture the arterial walls at the injection site, causing gangrene, hemorrhage, and distal ischemia. When you continually inject into the same place, the peripheral veins scar, which eventually leads to the vein collapsing.
Injecting heroin has a significant disadvantage as users tend not to sanitize or clean their injection sites, making them more likely to contract cellulitis and thrombophlebitis. Using blunt, used needles increases the risk of scarring and collapsed veins, as well as contracting diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
The Other Factors Contributing to Heroin Needle Tracks
A person’s age plays a significant role in healing scars. Younger people heal from wounds faster than older adults. Adolescents, teens, and young adults who are still developing can heal wounds quickly, even with significant damage. Getting older increases your chances of developing scars that will last for a long time.
Nutrition is another important factor. Good nutrition helps your body heal efficiently and fight off infections during recovery. As a result of prioritizing maintaining their substance use problems, people in a cycle of active addiction often struggle to get proper nutrition. Addicts often arrive in rehab with malnutrition that needs to be addressed.
Chronic conditions can slow the healing process, leading to scarring. Heart conditions, diabetes, and immunodeficiencies are all examples.
If you have repeated trauma to one area, scarring is likely to occur. Continuing to use needles in the same vein over and over again can cause marks and scars. Switching to another vein may also cause scarring.
Usually, track marks appear on the arms because that’s the easiest way to inject heroin. However, scars are likely to appear on wrists, hands, or feet when arms are sore or already showing track marks.
Those are because your hands and wrists have thinner skin and are often exposed to the sun when you’re outside. Blood flow, skin thickness, and sun exposure are more likely to cause scarring. Having track marks on your hands makes it harder to hide that the person has been using heroin for quite some time as well as using needles on your arms.
Other Effects of IV Heroin Use
A common side effect of IV drug abuse is collapsed veins. The damage will cause blood clots to form in the veins as a result of the damage. It is possible for the vein to become completely blocked if these blunt needles are used continuously, if the same injection area is used consistently, or if the injection technique is improper.
There is a social stigma attached to track marks because of the health risks associated with this subculture of drugs. Unsanitary needles can lead to serious skin infections, including cysts, ulcers, and abscesses.
