What is Livor Mortis?

Livor Mortis (or lividity) is the pooling of blood and body fluids at the lowest point of a body after death. Sometimes medical professionals and coroners will call it “hypostasis.” But the old-fashioned Latin term is Livor (bruising) Mortis (of death.) This reddish-purple-blue bruising on a dead body is one of the milder of all decomposition bruises.

Livor mortis is different from Rigor mortis. Livor mortis occurs in the stage after Rigor mortis. Rigor mortis refers to the stiffening of the body, livor mortis refers to the pooling of the blood in the body.

How Livor Mortis Happens

• A death occurs.
• Rigor mortis begins.
• Thirty minutes to four hours later, liver mortis begins. Blood begins to pool at low points.
• 12 hours later, bruising and blanching are most pronounced.
• But the staining that occurs will last forever.

When our respiration and circulation ceases — our breathing and heartbeat stop — our blood and lymph fluids come to a standstill. Gravity begins to work on the fluids almost immediately, and they’re drawn to the lowest point of a body.

A corpse that died laying completely flat on its back will display livor mortis along its back, bum, the back of the arms and calves. When someone dies in a seated position, blood pools in the bum, thighs and soles of the feet.

A body that underwent livor mortis while tied up and hung upside-down is probably the nastiest I’ve seen. All the blood pools into the head, neck and shoulders, and that pressure makes lips swell up, and in this instance, their eyeballs popped out. Blood must have pooled in the sinuses and created significant pressure. I wouldn’t ever reveal the situation surrounding his death. We’ll just say the Cartel had it out for him.

How Fixed Lividity Helps Forensics

When blood drains to the bottom of a body, it stays there. Once it’s there for a long time, the stain becomes permanent or “fixed.” So medical examiners can learn a lot about found bodies by considering the pooled blood.

• Unfixed, fluid livor mortis means a body hasn’t been dead long, maybe only a few hours.
• Fixed bruising means a body has been dead longer.
• Fixed stains can prove the position a body was in after death.

Suppose a body is repositioned (beyond the contortions a body undergoes during the stiffening of rigor mortis). In that case, that probably means an outside factor happened after the death, like human or animal involvement.

What Does Blanched / Non-blanched Mean?

“Blanching” means whitening.

It’s best illustrated with a science experiment. Look in the mirror, open your mouth and look at your gums. They’re reddish-pink. Now press your (clean) finger onto your gums for a long moment, maybe count to ten, and remove your finger. You’ll see a white spot where the pressure was. That’s blanching.

Don’t worry. Your gums will return to normal as blood returns to the area.

But in a dead body, only gravity works on the blood. So medical examiners can learn about pressure or abnormal positioning points by studying the pattern of bruising on a body.

What Factors Might Affect Livor Mortis?

Body position is the key player here. We imagine that a body quickly drained of fluids — like a decapitation, for instance — would display less bruising since there is less blood. A drowned body found at the beach would be difficult to study, too, since drowned bodies tend to bloat and shift with the current.

Can Livor Mortis Stains be Removed / Reduced for a Funeral?

Some facial staining — like when someone dies peacefully sleeping on their side — can be reduced and cosmetically covered by a skilled mortician and good embalmer working together. The embalmer will drain the fluids from a body and replace them with chemicals that will preserve it, plump it, and give it a life-like appearance. Then, the funeral director will use cosmetics, clothing and hairstyles to cover the most persistent stains.

But unfortunately, since these livor mortis stains are so pervasive, they can be practically impossible to hide. And they can be highly traumatizing to a family member who finds their loved one looking quite beat up, even if the decedent didn’t undergo any physical trauma.

Does a Body Feel Livor Mortis?

No. Livor mortis only occurs once circulation has stopped for some time, anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours. The brain hasn’t had any blood supply that whole time. It’s gone dark. So while livor mortis might be disturbing to see, rest assured the decedent didn’t feel it.