" When I went to the can and saw my legs were blue , I got distressed and ask my fiancé if he could call the hospital … "

A woman namedMalin Haraldsenrecently caught the attention of over 20 million people on TikTok with the following photo series:

She shares a photo of her leg with a bluish hue at the ER with a time stamp of 2:30 a.m.:

The doctors thought it might be caused by a blood clot:

After 3 a.m., she started noticing that her fingers and nails were blue as well:

At 4 a.m., she got an ultrasound of her legs, fingers, and stomach:

After nothing was found and her legs became more discolored, doctors decided to give her a blood thinner…

However, as they were getting ready to administer the blood thinner with a shot, they realized that the blue was wiping off. Turns out the discoloration was from her Shein pants:

It’s a turn of events that I don’t think anyone expected.

And since Malin is thankfully okay, we can laugh at this situation.

But hey, at least the healthcare workers were taking things seriously and erring on the side of caution!

BuzzFeed talked to Malin, who is currently pregnant. She said that she had been in the hospital a couple of months earlier because doctors thought she had a clot in her lung. Ironically, they told her that if she turned blue or had any pain, she needed to follow up. “When I went to the bathroom and saw my legs were blue, I got worried and asked my fiancé if he could call the hospital,” she explained.

“The doctors supported my worries, and they didn’t understand what was going on. We figured out it was my pants coloring off when I got the blood thinners. They wiped my right thigh for the shot, and the color stained the alcohol pad. Embarrassed as I was, the doctors laughed so hard, and we were happy this was not what we all thought it was,” she said.

Malin said she was wearing a cheap pair of leggings from Shein that cost her $8. “They went to the trash as soon as I got home from the hospital,” she said, laughing.

While this story is funny now, it made us want to learn more about blood clots and why they might discolor your skin. So we also talked toDr. Andrea Renata Dean, who has been practicing medicine for almost 20 years. She is a hematology/oncology clinical professor and the founder ofHematology Connect.

She explained that a blood clot is a collection of platelets, red blood cells, and proteins that form a plug in a vein or artery. “I mostly treat patients with blood clots in their veins or deep vein thrombosis, which is due to stasis of blood flow, vascular wall injury, and an inherited/acquired hypercoagulable state. This is known asVirchow triad.”

Dean continued, stating that blood clots can occur anywhere in the body but are most commonly found in the legs and lungs: “Signs of a blood clot in the leg are swelling, warmth, redness, tenderness, and pain. Signs of a blood clot in the lung are shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, wheezinghemoptysis, and elevated heart rate.”

And she confirmed that your legs or fingers can turn blue when you have a blood clot. “But this mainly occurs when blood circulation to these areas is cut off due to an arterial clot,” she added.

Pregnancy increases your risk for a blood clot because of changes in the body’s clotting proteins. “Blood clots are dangerous during pregnancy and outside of pregnancy because they can go to your lung, which is known as a pulmonary embolus. A blood clot to the lung can be deadly,” Dean cautioned.

Blood clots are treated with blood thinners, and Dean said that patients who are older, have obesity, smoke, are undergoing estrogen therapy, or have decreased mobility, a history of cancer, a history of an autoimmune disease, or an inherited/acquired clotting disorder are all at increased risk. If you have questions or concerns about blood clots, always speak to your doctor.

And now you can say that a story about a pair of blue Shein leggings made you learn something new about blood clots today.

Text reads "The time I went to the ER scared it was a blood clot" with a worried emoji, time-stamped at 1:30 AM

Close-up of a person's leg with a caption that reads "My legs was so blue" and a time stamp of "2:30 AM"

Close-up of a skin surface with text overlay about a hospital and a pregnant woman with a blood clot

Close-up of a person's clasped hands showing nails and fingers with a bluish tint; a tattoo is visible on one finger

Wrist with hospital band and text: "They checked me in and put me up for ultrasounds of my legs, fingers, and stomach"

Person's leg with bruises and text: "My legs turned more purple/black, the hospital got more worried, so they gave me blood thinner"

A person shows their arm with color transfer stains from clothing with text: "Wiping with alcohol after the shot, it showed up my cheap pants from Shein colored off"

User Lissette Vega: "ER nurse here and now I feel like we need to incorporate this in our training LMAOOO / alcohol wipes for EVERYTHING with a funny color"

Comment from a user named Alix: "As a nurse I just [skull and laugh-cry emojis] because i'm sure the Drs and nurses were more embarrassed than you!"

Sign reading "EMERGENCY" on hospital building at dusk

A person is receiving an injection in their upper arm with medical personnel administering the shot

Person in activewear running up stairs, focused on lower body and sneakers

Andrea R Dean, MD, posing in a white lab coat, smiling at the camera with crossed arms

Illustration of red blood cells flowing through a blood vessel

Person examining a bruise on their leg while sitting on a sofa

Pregnant person sitting on a couch, holding their ankle, suggesting discomfort or pain

Digital illustration of a blood clot inside a blood vessel with red blood cells

3D text "The More You Know" with a shooting star's tail across a starry sky