The last time we saw Newsmax’s resident doctor, Chauncey Crandall, he was trying to downplay the amount of aspirin President Trump allegedly takes. Now, a new, apparently aspirin-related issue regarding Trump has surfaced, and Crandall is back to explain that away too in a Jan. 23 article:
President Trump recently drew attention after explaining a bruise on his hand — and mentioning aspirin — during a public exchange with reporters.
“I would say take aspirin if you like your heart, but don’t take aspirin if you don’t want to have a little bruising,” he said.
To help explain what may be happening, Newsmax’s “Newsline”spoke with Dr. Chauncey Crandall, the world-renowned cardiologist and director of preventive medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Florida about aspirin-related bruising and a more urgent cold-weather health concern: heart attacks linked to snow shoveling.
According to Dr. Crandall, aspirin is known for helping protect the heart, but it can also increase the risk of bruising because it affects how blood clots. And for older adults, the issue can become more noticeable.
“Well, President Trump is definitely old school,” Crandall said. “And the old ways in the old time we used to take aspirin one tablet a day — that’s about 325mg. And he’s still on that protocol, and he is an older man. Our skin becomes thinner as we age.”
Crandall said bruising is common in older patients because the skin becomes more fragile over time.
“We all know that we have less tissue underneath the skin, less cushion,” he explained. “And when we bump ourselves when we’re on aspirin, we can bruise.”
He added that he sees this often in his own practice.
“This is not uncommon… for many of my patients in the office,” he said. “In fact, I would say maybe 50% that are age 80 have some form of bruising on their skin when they take aspirin.”
In many cases, he said, doctors may reduce the dose to help.
“So commonly we just lower the dose,” Crandall said. “The bruising improves. But the president likes a full dose. So, he’s going to probably continue to have some bruising going forward.”
We somehow doubt that Crandall is a “world-renowned cardiologist” given that he’s a talking head for Newsmax.