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Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Normally, a 79-year-old man having a bruise on his hand wouldn’t be much of a story. But that changes when the septuagenarian in question is Donald Trump.

Trump’s injury was first spotted weeks after the 2024 election, which he won in part by bullying Joe Biden for his decrepitude while pretending he himself possessed almost superhuman health and mental acuity. For months, the White House dismissed Trump’s bruising as one of those hand-shaking injuries you’re always hearing about. Then when Trump’s terrible hand makeup and swollen ankles raised too many questions, the administration admitted he has a condition known as chronic venous insufficiency.

Yet questions about Trump’s health, and his bizarrely terrible attempts to conceal his physical issues, have persisted. Here’s a guide, which we’ll keep updated, to everything we know about Trump’s health and how the White House is handling his illness.

How long has Trump had this hand bruise?

It’s been spotted on and off since at least the spring of 2024, but the bruise first drew widespread attention on February 24, 2025, when Trump hosted French president Emmanuel Macron at the White House. A Getty photographer zoomed in on Trump’s hand and noted in the caption that it looked as though he’d put makeup on his hand to cover a bruise.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The bruising appeared again in April and May and was spotted frequently, despite Trump’s attempts to conceal it, throughout the summer of 2025.

What did Trump say about the bruise?

Though it largely went unnoticed at the time, a March 2024 Washington Examiner profile featured then-candidate Trump showing off a hand bruise, which was presented as the result of overly vigorous handshaking:

At the end of his remarks, Trump walked along a rope line on his way out of the room. He shook hand after hand, but rather than a simple handshake, some excited admirers would grasp his hand so heartily, and squeeze so hard, that Trump had to pull back to move on to the next person. Near the end of the line, one woman seized Trump’s hand so vigorously that a Secret Service agent had to deliver a sort of mini karate chop — nothing violent, just a firm tap — to break up the one-sided embrace.

As we walked back to the terrace to resume dinner, I asked Trump, “Weren’t you once famously a germaphobe?”

“In this business, you just have to get over it,” he said. He held out his right hand and showed that the back was covered by a large, greenish bruise. There were also marks left by female admirers with carefully manicured nails. It happened all the time, he said.

Trump offered the same explanation when asked about the mark on his hand in his Time “Person of the Year” interview, conducted in late November 2024:

Sitting under bright lights for a 30-minute photo session ahead of a 65-minute interview, he’s asked to explain the bruising on his right hand. “It’s from shaking hands with thousands of people,” he says.

How did the White House explain Trump’s bruising?

For months, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeatedly said it was a totally normal — nay, heroic — hand-shaking injury. In response to questions following the Macron meeting, she told Fox News Digital:

President Trump is a man of the people, and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history … His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.

Leavitt gave a similar explanation to NBC News, adding, “President Trump has bruises on his hand because he’s constantly working and shaking hands all day every day.”

How long has Trump been putting makeup on his hand?

It’s impossible to say. If he or his handlers ever did a good job applying the makeup, we would have no way of knowing.

While observers accused Trump of using hand makeup at the Macron meeting in February, the bruising was still very visible. By early summer, he was regularly appearing in public with obvious blotches of unblended makeup on the back of his hand. A C-SPAN cameraman zoomed in on the odd mark while Trump talked to reporters outside the White House on July 15:

Although the White House has professional makeup artists at its disposal, Trump kept appearing with poorly applied concealer. Here are just a few examples from July 24:

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

And August 22:

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

What’s going on with Trump’s ankles?

Trump showed up for the FIFA Club World Cup Final in New Jersey on July 13 with noticeably swollen ankles:

Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

Days after this, coupled with another blotchy hand-makeup sighting that sparked a new round of questioning about Trump’s health, the White House revealed Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency.

Since then, he has appeared at various events with swollen-looking ankles, including his August 15 meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska:

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

How did Trump reveal his chronic-venous-insufficiency diagnosis?

After repeating the same dubious claims about the president’s hand-shaking injuries for months, Team Trump uncharacteristically gave in and offered an actual health update.

At a June 17 press conference, Leavitt said that after noticing mild swelling in his legs in recent weeks, Trump underwent a “comprehensive examination, including diagnostic vascular studies.”

She read a note from Trump’s physician that said the exam “revealed chronic venous insufficiency, ICD-9, a common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.” However, there was “no evidence of deep-vein thrombosis or arterial disease,” and an echocardiogram found “no signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness.”

Leavitt still attributed Trump’s hand bruising to hand shaking, but she acknowledged that the daily aspirin he takes as a preventative measure is also a factor. “This is consistent with minor soft-tissue irritation from frequent hand shaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen,” she said.

.@PressSec on the President Trump’s health: “I know that many in the media have been speculating about bruising on the president’s hand and also swelling in the president’s legs … All results [of a recent physical exam] were within normal limits.” pic.twitter.com/aTjaAusCxw

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 17, 2025

The White House released this note from Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, which concluded, “SUMMARY: President Trump remains in excellent health.”

White House doc on the leg swelling President Trump has been experiencing: pic.twitter.com/ENjbyoUO6v

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 17, 2025

What is chronic venous insufficiency?

Here’s an overview from the Cleveland Clinic:

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a form of venous disease that occurs when veins in your legs are damaged. As a result, these veins can’t manage blood flow as well as they should, and it’s harder for blood in your legs to return to your heart. CVI causes blood to pool in your leg veins, leading to high pressure in those veins.

CVI can happen due to damage in any of your leg veins. These include your:

• Deep veins, which are large veins deep in your body that run through your muscle.

• Superficial veins, which are close to your skin’s surface.

• Perforating veins, which connect your deep and superficial veins.

CVI may cause mild symptoms at first. But over time, this condition may interfere with your quality of life and lead to serious complications.

The condition is common, affecting about one in 20 adults.

Is chronic venous insufficiency fatal?

No, people typically don’t die from chronic venous insufficiency itself. Per the Cleveland Clinic:

CVI usually isn’t life-threatening and doesn’t result in amputation. But it’s a progressive disease that can cause discomfort, pain and reduced quality of life. Treatment can help manage your symptoms and give you a better quality of life.

However, if the condition goes untreated, it can lead to serious and even fatal complications. “These include leg ulcers, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and secondary lymphedema, which is swelling in the tissues due to damage to the lymphatic system,” according to UCLA Health.

What treatment is Trump being given?

We have no idea!

The Cleveland Clinic says, “Treatment for chronic venous insufficiency involves lifestyle changes and compression therapy.” This could include exercise, weight management, and the use of compression stockings. Blood thinners or antibiotics to clear skin infections may be prescribed. If those treatments don’t work, various surgeries can improve the condition, though it can’t be cured.

The White House never said how Trump’s CVI is being treated, and when asked for an update on August 12, Leavitt said, “Look, you see the president every day. He’s moving, he’s working, he’s continuing. There have been no adjustments made to his lifestyle.”

What’s the latest news on Trump’s health?

The White House has not given any substantial updates since Trump’s condition was first disclosed in June. As the Daily Beast reported on August 22, Dr. Barbabella has yet to take any questions from the press on the matter:

The White House was forthcoming with the diagnosis, but it has not made the president’s doctor available to answer questions despite initially suggesting that it was a possibility.

Asked about the chances of speaking with Trump’s doctor again last week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “certainly something we can look into” and claimed there is “nothing to hide.”

Is Trump still covering up the hand bruise?

He may have finally given up on his concealer routine. A large dark bruise on the back of Trump’s right hand was visible throughout the day on August 25:

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

To be clear, it is very unlikely that the bruising is related to Trump’s CVI, according to Peter Henke, the previous chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease.

“Hand bruising has nothing to do with venous insufficiency in the legs,” Henke told STAT. “I don’t know his personal medical record, obviously, but if he is on aspirin, that can certainly lead to easy bruising.”

What’s Really Going On With Trump’s Hand Bruise and Health Issues?

What’s Really Going On With Trump’s Hand Bruise and Health Issues?