Dear Summer Bruising is common but not inevitable. However, it is possible to have a bruise even if you follow all precautions. Therefore, it is safer to plan on having a bruise and if you don't have one, all the better. Avoiding medications and, yes, herbal, products will reduce you chance of having a bruise. This includes products like aspirin and non-steroidal antiinflammatory medications like Advil. However, a lot of over the counter remedies contain these products so read labels carefully. To be on the safe side, these products should be avoided for at least 10 days. If you are on a product like Plavix or aspirin for specific medical reasons, never discontinue these products even for a short time without speaking with the doctor who prescribed this treatment. Taking Arnica-does it prevent bruisng? Sad to say, no it does not. There are some very good studies that show no difference in brusing or the clearing of bruisin between taking Arnica and not taking it. Arnica is a homeopathic medication. This means that a tablet of Arnica contain something like one part in 10 billion of Arnica to inert products in the pill. That is a good thing because Arnica is actually toxic in high doses. I perfom about 1000 Restylane treatments per year and I have studies my incidence of bruising. These statistics include under eye treatment which apprears to have an increased incidence of bruising over say the nasolabial fold. About 30% of patients have some type of brusing. This can be anything from a small dot in the skin at an injection site to a whopping black eye. The small dot on the skin is gone in a couple of days and a little make up easily makes them inconspicuous. On the other hand, the black eye can last up to 3 weeks and is very hard to hide. Naturally, your co-workers and strangers will assume that you have been the victim of domestic violence. Make up does a poor job of hiding these. In my practice, the incidence of this type of bruising is 2% but they make quite an impression. Many of these occur in people who did not avoid medications that thin the blood. The good news is that the benefits of treatment last well over a year, so generally even those with nasty bruises felt treatment was worthing. And yes, treatment is very safe! What would I recommend for you. Weigh the risk of bruising. If this trip is significant and being bruised might ruin vacation photos, have treatment after your event and avoid medication that can increase the risk of bruising.