Penny test for anemia

[snopes]

Comment: I was wondering if this is true: I was told that someone can test
to see if they are anemic by rubbing a penny on their skin and if a
greyish black line shows up then they are anemic. Is this true? If so what
would a copper penny have anything to do with an iron deficiency in your
blood?

[Lancastrian]

If you're rubbing a penny on yourself hard enough to break the skin so it can "react" with your blood, I think you have bigger problems than anemia.

[Izzy Quigley]

I've heard this one, but the substance was gold, not copper.

In high school we tried it at a party with a gold ring. There were some people it didn't mark at all, but it left marks with varying degrees of darkness on others. A friend of mine with very pale skin got the best results. I don't know if it has anything to do with anemia, though.

[Eddylizard]

One of the symptoms of aplastic anaemia is an increased suscepability to bruising. I don't know it this would be the case with anaeamia due to a simple iron deficiency though.

If you dragged a coin or ring across the skin of a person suffering with aplastic anaemia, then I suppose it could leave a bruise trail, whereas in a non sufferer the same pressure would not leave a mark.

[franjava]

Originally Posted by Izzy Quigley

I've heard this one, but the substance was gold, not copper.

In high school we tried it at a party with a gold ring. There were some people it didn't mark at all, but it left marks with varying degrees of darkness on others. A friend of mine with very pale skin got the best results. I don't know if it has anything to do with anemia, though.

In high school, we did it with a ring too. You know what I think it was? The dirty metal reacting with our makeup (every girl had a mark, but none of the guys did.) I just tried it with my wedding band and got a mark on my face, but not my arm or neck.

One of the symptoms of aplastic anaemia is an increased suscepability to bruising. I don't know it this would be the case with anaeamia due to a simple iron deficiency though.

If you dragged a coin or ring across the skin of a person suffering with aplastic anaemia, then I suppose it could leave a bruise trail, whereas in a non sufferer the same pressure would not leave a mark.

This is a washable mark, not a bruise. That's what makes me think it's just dirt/chemical reaction. Kinda like when crappy metal gives you a green ring on your finger.

[DawnStorm]

I have macrolytic (my RBCs are too small) anemia and I don't remember bruising easily. I've been under treatment for it since the first of this year.
Do you mean to tell me that I could've saved myself some blood work just by drawing a penny up my arm?!

[tribrats]

I have anemia and I just tried, no line. I used to work with copper constantly and it was much purer than a penny and never had anything happen.

I used to make transformers and wound copper wire onto forms. If this was true, I would have had markings on my hands and arms where the copper rubbed all day, every day.

ETA: I bruise extremely easily. Strangely I am more apt to bruise from a lighter bump than if I was hit or bumped into something hard.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by Izzy Quigley

I've heard this one, but the substance was gold, not copper.

.

A few years ago, my mother bought a nice (read expensive) gold chain and it turned her neck black/green. I remember asking about it here and the consensus was that my mother's body chemistry was reacting with the gold. IIRC some of you had the same reaction to gold jewelry that my mother did.