Apply an icepack to the hickey. Do this as soon as possible after receiving the hickey. You can wrap some ice in a towel, use a pre-frozen ice pack, or put a spoon in the freezer for a few minutes. Gently hold the cold compress to the skin for several minutes (up to 20 minutes, if it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable), remove the compress for several minutes, and then apply it again.

Try the toothbrush or comb method. Many people swear by it, but it’s important to remember that a hickey is a bruise, and most bruises just take time to disappear, so don’t expect a miracle.

Lightly brush the hickey and the area around it with a stiff-bristled toothbrush or a comb. Doing this breaks up the blood clot and gets circulation going again.

Wait about 15 minutes. The redness and swelling will spread, but will be less obvious after about 15 minutes.

Apply a cold compress, as above.

Repeat if necessary. Depending on the magnitude of your hickey this method may work, or it may just spread the discoloration a bit (it can make it worse if you press too hard.)

Conceal the hickey with makeup. The most effective makeup will be the green-tinted concealer, as it is designed to negate red skin tones. Apply a foundation that’s a little lighter than your skin tone. Apply it directly on the hickey and all around it so it doesn’t look obvious that you’re trying to conceal something. You can try an eyeshadow that’s lighter than your skin tone if you don’t have a concealer.

Cover the hickey with something. Wear a turtleneck, a collared shirt or blouse, or a scarf (appropriate for the weather of course), around your neck. If you have long hair, style it so that it hangs down over the hickey. Frequently check the positioning of your shirt or your hair to make sure the hickey is still covered.

Use a coin. This method is probably the most painful, but has proven VERY effective. First, stretch the skin flat (pulling away from the hickey on two opposite sides works well for this). Then, use the edge of a large coin to scrape the skin. Use the coin as if the red area of the skin was butter on toast that needed to be spread outward. The only difference is that you must press quite HARD (do it as hard as you can, but not so hard that you break the skin or cause bleeding). What this does is push the excess blood, which has escaped from the capillaries, out of the surface skin. There will be redness from the scraping of the coin, but that will go away much faster than the hickey. And in any case, a scrape is much less conspicuous than a hickey.

Put a spoon in the freezer for a few minutes. Apply pressure and slide the spoon along the hickey. The pressure and coldness help disperse the blood that has formed. You will need to repeat freezing, if the spoon starts getting warm it does not work. You will also need to use quite a bit of pressure with the spoon but you will see results over a few minutes of doing this.

Utilize turtleneck sweaters, scarves, or makeup to cover it up.

Rub vitamin K into the area.

Long Term Solutions

1. Apply arnica salve. Arnica is an herbal salve that helps reduce swelling and can minimize the appearance of a hickey. (Some people claim Witch Hazel will shorten hickey healing time.)
2. Eat healthy foods. A healthy diet can help any bruise heal more quickly.
• Increase your intake of vitamin P (also called bioflavonoids). Examples of foods that contain significant amounts of bioflavonoids: lemons, green peppers, broccoli, and rose hips. The primary job of bioflavonoids is to protect the capillaries, keep them strong and prevent them from bleeding. The converse of this equals a hickey.
• Use Vitamin K cream (aloe vera and vitamin E don't hurt either). Vitamin K helps reabsorb the blood stuck near the surface of the skin that causes the appearance of a hickey (more specifically the redness or brownness). Also increase your intake of vitamin K by eating green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, green cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, turnip greens, broccoli, tomatoes as well as exceptional meats like liver.
3. Apply heat to a hickey that lasts more than a couple days. Saturate a washcloth in hot water, wring it out, and hold it to your skin for several minutes. Reheat the washcloth with more water as necessary.

Tips

• In the future, get and give hickeys where they won't be easily found -- or don't get one at all!
• Hickeys will usually fade naturally in a couple of days to a week. There’s no sure way to get rid of one other than waiting, so be patient, and try to minimize and hide the appearance of the hickey as much as you can in the meantime.
• If someone notices your hickey, play it off. The excuse of the "curling iron burn" is a common one, but it doesn't work because a burn and a bruise look nothing alike. Try a different excuse, one that would cause a bruise. Explain that you got hit with a ping-pong ball or some other projectile. People probably won’t believe you, but at least it’s plausible.
• Some people believe in the toothpaste method: Apply a layer of toothpaste to the hickey. The toothpaste will stop tingling in a few minutes, when it does remove the toothpaste with a warm washcloth. The peppermint stimulates circulation helping to break down the clot. Wait 24 hours and repeat if necessary. You'll see better results if you can do this sooner than later.