Donald Trump hiding his visible health issues tries to conceal his chronic hand bruising. Hand bruising is a symptom of an underlying condition.

Donald Trump's aging hands assessment published in the New York Magazine Intelligencer by Margaret Hartman.

(Maine Writer:  As a registered nurse, my observation is that Donald Trump is taking an anticoagulant to prevent the risk of thrombophlebitis related to his swollen ankles circulatory diagnosis. Anticoagulant therapy causes easy bruising. If Donald Trump throws a clot he would become physically incapacitated.) 

Normally, a 79-year-old man having a bruise on his hand wouldn’t be much of a story. But that changes when the aging 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. 

But, for months, the White House dismissed Donald 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. Trump recently revealed he’s taking way too much aspirin, which can certainly lead to bruising.  (In other words, Donald Trump is self--medicating. Americans never hear from the White House physician except when scripted email messages are sent.)

For the past year, Donald Trump has had a persistent bruise on the back of his right hand. It initially came and went, but now the bruise is almost always visible on the president’s hand (though he often makes poor attempts to cover it with makeup).

White House press secretary (aka 3D-pringer Barbie) Karoline Leavitt’s explanation has been similarly unchanging. Since February, she’s given some version of this statement when asked about the bruise: “...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.”

Still, 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 medical issues.
What’s the latest news on Trump’s health❓

A weird rash has entered the chat. The red marks on the right side of Trump’s neck were visible throughout February 2026, and the rash looked pretty bad when the president made his first live remarks about the Iran war on March 2. New York’s Matt Stieb recapped the emergence of this new ailment:  From a quick dive into wire photos, the rash was first really visible, albeit less inflamed, in photos from February 18, when Trump hosted a Black History Month event at the White House. There are also what appear to be signs of irritation in the same spot as far back as February 13, but not much before that. 

The rash looked worse on February 20, when Trump held a press conference to complain about the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his tariffs. At the State of the Union, it looked even more red. You could also see it on Friday at Trump’s rally in Texas. But by the Medal of Honor ceremony held at the White House on [March 2], it was peeking farther out from his collar and looking way more irritated: Dr. Sean Barbabella, the White House physician explained that the president is “using a very common cream” as a “preventative treatment.”

How long has Trump had the hand bruise❓

It’s been spotted on and off since at least the spring of 2024.

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.

Since the summer of 2025, the bruise has appeared frequently on the president’s hand, though he usually tries to conceal it.

What did Trump initially say about the hand bruise❓

Though this largely went unnoticed at the time, then-candidate Trump showed off his a hand bruise in a March 2024, Washington Examiner profile. He presented the injury 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, which was 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 hand bruise❓

For months, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Trump, repeatedly claiming it was a totally normal — nay, heroic — hand-shaking injury. 

For example, he’s what she told Fox (Fake❗)News Digital after the early 2025, Macron meeting:  "Donald 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."💩💩💩❗

Is Trump’s bruise always in the same place❓

The large bruise and noticeable makeup splotches are almost always on the back of Trump’s right hand.

However, a discoloration on the back of Trump’s left hand was briefly visible in a video of the Donald Trump golfing with Roger Clemens on August 23, 2025, which posted by the Major League Baseball player’s son, Kacy.

Then, a left-hand bruise made a brief reappearance in January 2026. Trump's *left* hand -- not the one that is usually disfigured -- now has a large bruise and is discolored.

The White House told New York’s Ben Terris that this was caused by him hitting it against a table corner.

How long has Trump been putting makeup on his hand❓

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

Trump was first accused of using hand makeup after the February 2025 Macron meeting, though the bruising remained very visible. By early summer 2025, he regularly showed up to public events with 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, 2025.

Although the White House has professional makeup artists at its disposal, Trump kept appearing with poorly applied concealer. 

Is Trump still putting makeup on the hand bruise❓

For a moment, it seemed like he’d 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, 2025.

Nevertheless, the makeup returned at Trump’s “look, I’m still alive” press conference on September 2, 2025. It was a bit harder to spot, so it appeared Trump was getting closer to finding the right shade of concealer. But, the unblended look came back with a vengeance by the time Trump visited the U.K. on September 17, 2025.

And the bruise was spotted peeking through a heavy layer of makeup during Trump’s visit with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, on March 17, 2026.

What has Trump said about the makeup❓

He acknowledged his hand beauty routine for the first time in January 2026, telling the Wall Street Journal that he puts makeup on his hands after he gets “whacked again by someone.”

“I have makeup that’s, you know, easy to put on, takes about 10 seconds,” he said.

How else is Trump concealing the hand bruise❓

Trump added bandages to his bruise cover-up routine in early December 2025. Here’s a shot from his sleepy December 2 Cabinet meeting: 

Trump also seems to be hiding his hands behind objects, as the Daily Beast noted on September 5. Trump placed his hands behind a strategically placed “Gulf of America” hat. Last week, official photographs of Trump’s meeting with the South Korean president were cropped so as not to include his cankles.

Amid questions over his health relating to his bruised hands and swollen ankles, the White House has seemingly come up with a range of ways to hide his afflictions from view.  
What’s going on with Trump’s ankles❓

Trump showed up for the FIFA Club World Cup Final in New Jersey on July 13, 2025 with noticeably swollen ankles.

This, combined with another blotchy hand-makeup sighting, sparked a a new round of wild speculation about Trump’s health.

In response, the White House finally revealed that the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency.

What happened with those mysterious red marks on Trump’s hand❓

The marks came and went several months before the first hand bruise sighting. On January 17, 2024, Trump showed up to E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial with bright red spots on his right hand. Hours of wild online theorizing ensued. But when Trump appeared at a rally that night, the blister-like marks were no longer visible.

When asked about the splotches two weeks later, Trump said, “maybe it’s AI.”

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, 2025 press conference.

“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,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “So in the effort of transparency, the president wanted me to share a note from his physician with all of you today.”