Facial Blushing / Flushing - Red Cheeks etc. ! Help Needed

REDMAN1983

Hi, I am a 25 year old man from Dublin. My situation is this . . .

I have a good life, many friends and get along with my family. I have a good job that I like and all that kind of stuff is great, luckily for me.

My problem is that I have started blushing heavily in the last year or two. I have normal Irish skin, but rosy cheeks. When I was younger I didn't give a b*lx to be honest ! It's only now as I'm getting older that I've started caring - and I think that adds to the problem.

I am confident and have never had problems getting along with people or getting a girl. But this has REALLY affected me in the past 2 years.

Basically my cheeks are red most of the time - this is not too severe but when I exercise/go outside it becomes much worse. Also, when I'm in a pub or when something goes wrong in a social environment (even something small like a joke out of place or something falling out of my hand) my face just burns up making me more self-conscious and then this in turn adds to the burning ! Then for an hour or so afterwards I can't smile/laugh/talk to anyone properly all my concentration is on my bright red face !!

I am wondering if there is any way to sort out this problem. Is there anyone else out there that has the same problem ? What have you done?

I have heard of these solutions

Proponal (inderal) beta blockers

cutting a nerve under the arm (eft or something)

hynosis ?

It's really getting bad and happens nearly everytime I go out now and I am stopping going out and avoiding social sitiations now becasue of it

Thanks for your help

James

LegacyUser

Hey pal,I know exactly what you mean I suffer from the same thing, it's not Rosacea that I do know. I think it's just fragile/damged or broken capillaries under the skin which can become very easily irritated by pretty much anything ,eg: cold weather/what you eat/drink etc and especially in social situations which I find very debilitating so I tend to avoid certian things which I know may cause me to flare up.

Have a look here http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=2919 it might be of some help.
I got from the Essential Day Spa Sothy's range the 'Light Cream for fragile capillaries' and also the 'Concentrate Serum' too you have to use it every evening/night or you can use it twice a day if you want for at least 2 weeks for anything to happen which I did and it did reduce the redness alot but after a week went back to normal I've tried 'Clinique CX Redness relief cream' but lost faith in that after a few weeks when I noticed it did nothing although it does say use twice daily and 90% of the time I only used it at night

I'm currently using a cream called 'Guinot Anti Redness Cream' which is supposed to be good but you have to use it for 3 months before any visible improvment can be seen apparently, I ain't holdin my breath though .

If you watch Eastenders the Bradley Branning guy has exactly what I have and I've noticed his are very rarely red these days so I wish I could get me hands on what he's using to keep his under control.
Unfortunately there seems to be very little that can be done to solve this unless you're willing to fork out a couple of grand for some laser treatment which may not even work in the end.
Anyway don't worry you're not the only one with this there's loads of people with it

pocketdooz

Inderal

LegacyUser

I used to be the same. It killed me during college and prevented me from going for things I wanted job and romance-wise.

Hasn't happened in a while now although it did happen the other night and I'm not sure why.

ANyway, in terms of solutions, you can download hypnosis sessions online which can be good.

Also, a lot of the time it happens, instead of concentrating on your face, try breathing deeply and concentrating on your heart/chest area - might sound a bit bizarre but it came to me one day while walking (I'd always go red when I;d see people I half knew) and it takes your consciousness away from your face.

Avoid showering just before you go out - I think that I used to always have the water on really too hot and then when the skin starts to dry out it gets tight and you're more concious of it.

Also, I stopped using a blade to shave - I now use an electric razor (the type you use to shave your head) as I found that when I have a day's stubble I feel more comfortable and relaxed. Also, wet shaving used to always tighten my skin up.

Remember this: You have the choice to let it control you or you it. So, you can remind yourself that yes, you do go red, but that that's not going to stop you from doing the things you want to do. It could limit you yes, but if you choose for it not to do so then you'll just focus on the task at hand, not your face.

There's also another thing you can do: sounds a bit odd but if when you're embarrassed and going red, and you feel others notice, then make a bit of a joke about it to diffuse the power of the situation. ..... ...

The older I got and the more comfortable I became with myself, the less i noticed it happening and the less I let it effect me. And if it did happen I knew that it would only last a while and then be gone. The more I did things I wanted to do (surf/yoga/socialising) the less it effected my life.

And, sometimes you feel that you're going red when you're not or you feel it;s really bad when in fact it isn't.

And remember, going red is part of human nature, we do it when we're embarrassed. Allow yourself to go red when it's called for.

LegacyUser

I have the same thing across my nose and cheeks, and I was told by a specialist that it was Rosacea. At the time I was given an ointment which just made matters worse for me.

Some one then suggested cleansers. Ask your girlfiend / wife / sisters and try theirs. I got 3 bottles of stuff from Bodyshop and applied it every night and they did make the redness go away.

I cannot give you any names because I don't use it anymore - I just live with it. But I'll ask herself in the morning and get names for you. Basically you just cleanse the area of affected skin every night. It takes about a week for it to work but you have to keep doing it.

Also certain foods make worse. For me it was curries and spicy food. For another friend it was a certain black drink.

Yakult

I have the same problem ts. Tho Im not too confident and Im a shy person so that really doesnt help my case. My cheeks arent normally red all the time but then when something happens socially it just blows up. so annoying.

Im gonna look into stuff too to clear it. All the best!

Nevyn

There is nothing more sincere then a blush, it can't be faked.

Twinkle-star15

I have the same problem as you.
When I was younger, I was always really embarrassed about it, never joining in in pe, never doing anything that might make my face go red.
But I realised as I got older that it's not a big deal. I'm not saying that if you want to go for something to fix it you shouldn't, but it would be a lot cheaper to accept it :P.

PS, I think guys blushing is really hot

PPS, I'm a girl :P

xxx

REDMAN1983

Thanks for all the replies

Unfortunately nothing really concrete here though . . .

Anyone else know of anything ?

Thanks for PM from darob by the way

jeepers101

I'm in the same boat, runs in my family. I've never tried to do anything about it but my sister has tried loads of stuff, creams and hypnosis, all failing and some making it worse. I have a theory that there's nothing you can do about it. If you try and do something about it you're going to make it worse as you're just highlighting the problem in you're own mind. The best thing you can do is not get rid of the problem but learn to live with it. I have and it doesn't bother me. I still blush, probably a couple of times a day but I don't let it bother me. As Thaedydal said, there's nothing more sincere than a blush.

Best of luck.

Phototoxin

The best retort to 'what colours red?' (ie YER FACE!) is ;

'that frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum which falls between the frequencies that we call Orange and Infrared.'

Guaranteed to make em shut up !

carlson

There is an operation available - I don't know anything about it except it was in the papers because some guy died on the operating table while getting it done -

JuliusCaesar

REDMAN1983 wrote: »

My problem is that I have started blushing heavily in the last year or two. I have normal Irish skin, but rosy cheeks. When I was younger I didn't give a b*lx to be honest ! It's only now as I'm getting older that I've started caring - and I think that adds to the problem.

If the caring about it has worsened it, then the solution is obvious and less drastic than medication or an operation (which does have side-effects). Look up 'social anxiety' or 'social phobia' - the solution is usually CBT

REDMAN1983

Yes, I've heard about this

What is CBT ?

Thanks

dreadlock

Check out www.socialanxietyinstitute.org

See if what they say tick's any of the boxes for you.

They have a CD series using CBT.

I've done it and it's worthwhile.

Cheers

StormWarrior

Try dermalogica's sensitised skincare range. It really reduces redness.

Alice1

CBT = Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Google it!

For an "instant" fix, there are a number of green tinted moisturisers / foundations on the market. (My sis used the Revlon one to great effect) Obviously not permanent but handy for a night out.

Homer J Simpson

Hi OP,

I was the exact same as you. The redness would be quite severe after drinking alcohol, eating something hot, being in a hot environment, being anxious or certainly after exercise. It would take a while for the burning sensation to go away. A dermatologist diagnosed me with a skin condition called Rosacea. Look it up on the internet.

I tried medication called Tetracycline which did not produce any results. I also tried Pulse dye laser initially which had some excellent results however the recovery time was 2 weeks due to some sever bruising.
IPL is less brutal than the PUlse dye and you can literally have it on your lunch break and return to work without anyone noticing you've had anything done. Normally a patient will get 5 treatments separated 6 weeks apart and thereafter get it done once every 6 months to control the condition.

I also personally found if you're self-conscious about it that it makes it worse.

There is no cure for this condition but it can be controlled. Plenty of forums out there about Rosacea check them out.

If you need anymore infor feel free to PM me.

Regards.

LegacyUser

same boat wrote: »

If you watch Eastenders the Bradley Branning guy has exactly what I have

This is exactly what I'm dealing with! I haven't seen anyone with the kind of redness I have but that's it to a T. I wasn't familiar with him but if you look him up on Google you'll see what we're talking about.

Anyways, this is kinda out of the blue and I know this thread is a little old, but I was looking for a little help on this subject and this site came up.

I'm a 19 year old male and I feel like over the last year this has gotten worse for me. I'm not too worried about (easily) blushing because that's always happened, but it's like my cheeks are always somewhat red. I won't even be sweating and my cheeks will be noticeably red. It might be that I've just started to notice it more now that I moved back home (I'm an American, so I guess I'm a little out of place here, but last winter I lived in Cleveland -- where it is COLD COLD COLD -- and I just moved back to my home state which is North Carolina, where especially during this time of the year it gets HOT. I'm talking all caps hot.) but it's annoying and I don't like walking around looking like I'm about to pass out.

Besides some sort of lotion or surgery (which I don't think I'm up for), I'm not really sure what else I can do. I'm in pretty good shape and I drink a lot of water which I've heard is supposed to help. I'm thinking about maybe not drinking any soda, but who knows... I guess this is just a part of life and the best advice here might be to just try an accept it.

LegacyUser

If it's a skin problem, try Aveeno Ultra Calming moisturiser - I found this really great to use. You can get it in most chemists

LegacyUser

I suffered from this as a young woman, I am middle aged now and its more or less gone, I think because I have learned to deal with it better maybe.

I am fair skinned with rosy cheeks and pale translucent skin.

This sort of skin is kind of transparent with fragile capilaries and prone to broken veins. Its the whole vascular system in the person, the way its made and there is not a whole lot you can do to try to make your skin behave like it should.

As a young woman it ruled my whole life. The green tinted make up UNDER pan stick would sometimes cover it. Alcohol really aggrivated it. So when drinking take in as much water as you can.

I found prevention a lot better than cure as in when you are rested and not stressed to try to maintain that state and not allow the redness hot face to get to the stage where once its there you cant calm it down.

So obviously I couldnt do any excersise, people used to think I was on the point of death if I tried aerobics etc My face would be as purple as someone who was about to have a heart attack, I was fit but looked insane!

When my face would get that hot I would end up with broken veins in my cheeks so i had to stop which is a pity. I can only really do mild excersise like walking etc and not in hot/cold weather

Avoid extremes of hot and cold. These will give you broken capillaries which make the whole thing look worse and are permanent. They say these can be removed with laser, I have tried some will be able to be removed but others wont and the laser made some worse.

If you are out and you feel it starting go to the bathroom and run cold water over the insides of your wrists for 5 minutes it will cool down the blood a little bit.

Drink plenty of water and keep the skin moisturised, not with heavy creams though that will only make it worse. I find apply cream let skin calm, the skin will drink in the cream and leave a residue which will boil the face like a mask, so apply leave to sit, remove with cool water, repeat until the skin cools.

Dont sit in the sun, sit in the shade. In cold weather, wear a hood and scarf to protect the face, ice cold air will break those capillaries!

People who suffer with this tend to have dry delicate skin which ages quickly so protect from the sun. Avoid extremes of temprature. Excersise GENTLY !!!

LegacyUser

I've read about a procedure called (IPL) Intese Pulsed Light I went to the dematoligist and he told me that it was full proof! And that indeed the redness and blushing attacks would go away. The only catch is that it's 500$ per treatment and it takes up to 5 treatments so I guess you decide if it's bothering you that much if you wiliing to shell out the cash. I've read forums and blogs on it for people that have had it done and they swear by it. Im going to schedule my appt for sometime in mid August. Apperently the doctor said that it was very requested procedure. So theres noting to feel ashamed about. Well if you have any questions my email is <snip>

AssassinsCreed

im only 18 and i have this problum aswel. everywhere i go out at night to a club or party my cheeks just go all red for no reason and when i notice it and try walk outside to cool down it just get worse. is there any help for it?

callumk

When looking for treatment it helps to know what your condition is. It seems many people don't know what it's called. The majority of people with red cheeks will have red dots on their upper arms also.

This condition is called "Keratosis Pilaris Rubra Faceii". Non curable condition but it treatable. Moisturisers containing "Urea" help.

claiva

IknowIknow wrote: »

There's also another thing you can do: sounds a bit odd but if when you're embarrassed and going red, and you feel others notice, then make a bit of a joke about it to diffuse the power of the situation. ..... ...

The older I got and the more comfortable I became with myself, the less i noticed it happening and the less I let it effect me. And if it did happen I knew that it would only last a while and then be gone. The more I did things I wanted to do (surf/yoga/socialising) the less it effected my life.

And, sometimes you feel that you're going red when you're not or you feel it;s really bad when in fact it isn't.

And remember, going red is part of human nature, we do it when we're embarrassed. Allow yourself to go red when it's called for.

I totally agree with this, everyone knows someone who blushes easily and if they see you make light of it they will not tease you about it. It is very common and the older I get the easier I can deal with it and therefore the less frequent its occurance. When it happens to me it feels like my shoulders and back are freezing over but my face and neck are burning. It really is a horrible feeling but I think it can be relatively controlled with calmness and concentration.
Please do not consider any surgical intervention.

modest_marie

Awwww shookss OP..
I think Blushing is cute

Don't be too hard on yourself.

I'm like a milk bottle, and I blush a lot when I'm the centre of attention. But I just think that lets People know that I'm not an overly confident Person - which is nice, I think.

Most People that I know blush, and it doesn't bother me too much when I blush unless someone says 'oh my God the colour of your face'!!!

I'm sure there are lots of others out there that think blushing is cute.
Maybe it's the worrying of what People are thinking that's getting to you instead of the colour of your skin!

Take care

Angelica Rocks!

This used to happen to me all the time - red cheeks, heat rash... turned out I had crazy high blood pressure. Maybe get it checked just to rule it out- go into any chemist and they will do it for you.

mikemac

Happens me all the time, and I'm older then you OP
In fact, I think I started a thread here last year.

Constantly get flushed and red cheeks. It happens when I make presentations, now I'm fairly good at public speaking but it always happens.

And even when I'm sitting at my desk at getting stressed I go red. Heck, sitting at home watching DVD's and I look in the bathroom mirror and it's the same.
You should see me when I cycle to the shops on a cold winters morning! :cool:

Sorry, I don't have a solution but as you've seen you certainly aren't alone

freeworld777

I'm a few years older than you and it still happens to me all the time. I used to freak out about it and I'd even avoid situations where it might happen - public speaking, presentations etc. It used to always happen around women too which was really embaressing.

These days I don't let it bother me. If I'm in a situation where I can feel it coming on, I'll usually just stop and say to whoever is there that "I blush at the drop of a hat, it's a physical thing I can't control", and then I carry on about whatever I'm doing/saying. Usually when you know that people can see you blushing this causes you to blush even more and for longer. I find that the above method shortens the whole experience.

youngwarthog

REDMAN1983 wrote: »

Hi, I am a 25 year old man from Dublin. My situation is this . . .

I have a good life, many friends and get along with my family. I have a good job that I like and all that kind of stuff is great, luckily for me.

My problem is that I have started blushing heavily in the last year or two. I have normal Irish skin, but rosy cheeks. When I was younger I didn't give a b*lx to be honest ! It's only now as I'm getting older that I've started caring - and I think that adds to the problem.

I am confident and have never had problems getting along with people or getting a girl. But this has REALLY affected me in the past 2 years.

Basically my cheeks are red most of the time - this is not too severe but when I exercise/go outside it becomes much worse. Also, when I'm in a pub or when something goes wrong in a social environment (even something small like a joke out of place or something falling out of my hand) my face just burns up making me more self-conscious and then this in turn adds to the burning ! Then for an hour or so afterwards I can't smile/laugh/talk to anyone properly all my concentration is on my bright red face !!

I am wondering if there is any way to sort out this problem. Is there anyone else out there that has the same problem ? What have you done?

I have heard of these solutions

Proponal (inderal) beta blockers

cutting a nerve under the arm (eft or something)

hynosis ?

It's really getting bad and happens nearly everytime I go out now and I am stopping going out and avoiding social sitiations now becasue of it

Thanks for your help

James

Hi James, I'm a 21 year old Irish guy and I know precisely what you are going through. You have pretty much described my miserable affliction in a nutshell. I've read through countless forums and webpages researching what the hell is causing my redness and how to fix it. Some of the replies here mention accepting it and getting on with things however I know it is not that simple. It's an insidious little condition because it works it's way into your subconscious mind. Even if you are not thinking about it, or necessarily worried about it happening it can trigger and flare up. And trust me I know that it likes to choose the most inconvenient times to do so. It has ruined a relationship for me before and spoiled countless occasions where I should have been enjoying myself. And ontop of that i now fear playing music in public (something i love doing) I'm not a shy person per se. But I do get very self conscious about it simply because I know that I look frankly ugly when it does flare up and it makes me feel like **** because normally I'm alright looking (I think!) seriously though, I know how exposed and deeply uncomfortable it makes you feel. All I can do is offer you some of the advice which has helped me. The first thing you have to realize is that your condition could be caused by any number of things. I thought for a while I had rosacea, however I've talked to a doctor and a dermetologist and neither of them reckon that this is the case. I actually have very good clear skin but just a persistent redness which becomes inflamed upon a variety of triggers, many of which I'm sure you can relate to. The thing is that I believe that there isn't just ONE underlying cause to my/our affliction and therefore there is no one size fits all cure unfortunately. I believe my condition is caused by various different things, which all work together to create the problem. So I will just mention each problem and what I believe may be a solution for each one. As I have just recently decided to grab this problem by the balls and sort it out for myself once and for all, some of this will be at least semi hypothetical but my attitude is that no-one should have to put up with it as it is pretty ****in horrible and totally lowers quality of life. So first off, the obvious one. I am very fair skinned and as someone mentioned this results in weaker cappilleries which are closer to the surface of the epidermis and so when they are damaged or broken, they leave visible redness on my cheeks. Every time a flare up occurs the blood vessels are damaged a little bit more and so the residual redness is exacerbated. The thing is, as you know, that there are multiple triggers for a flare up, alcohol, excercise, sexual arousal, emotional reactions, slight embarrassment, spicy food, ambient temperatures, sunlight etc etc etc. I personally don't think it's good enough to say, "well just avoid those things which will set it off" as I'm not about to compromise my quality of life. No way! I love being drinking, sex and curry! And preferably in that order too so I'm not about to just stop what I like doing. Something which I only found out the other day at the skin clinic is that the sun can burn you in two different ways, UVB is the form of radiation which gives us immediate sunburn, however most suncreams in Europe do not protect against UVA, which is responsible for more gradual sun damage, even on cold overcast days. Ive decided I'm gonna start wearing suncreams every day, as basically what I believe may be happening is that my body never gets a chance to heal or remove the damaged capillaries in my face as it is always subject to UVA radiation. Perhaps if you/I eliminate the constant UVA the problem will be helped a little. So tip no.1 WEAR SUNSCREEN!
Okay so onto so the next important thing to realize is that we are what we eat. This may sound like obvious pointless advice but trust me, food plays a major role in how we look. I'm no diet expert or anything but basically less salt and high sugar foods and more fruit veg etc drink lots of water too. Ironically the more water you drink, the less your body retains it so that's a good tip for weight loss too! Just on the food point, swap white bread for brown if you can. And vitamin C is supposedly good for your skin too, so supplements might not be a bad idea.
Now I mentioned earlier that this problem gets into your subconscious. This is where hypnotism comes in, or doesn't as the case may be. You see hypnosis might help to alleviate the problem of blushing due to anxiety etc. However as we both know, the cruel reality is that this problem is kind of self sustaining because of the constant reminder which is present at all times on the cheeks. Hypnosis may be a short term fix for the mental side of things but to be honest he/she would want to be pretty bloody good. Perhaps hypnosis may be part of the answer but without addressing the other physical factors aswell I think it would be kind of useless. Okay so while were on the cognitive side of things let me just address this whole "social anxiety" **** I've heard being touted around the place. (sorry to whoever suggested that here I know your just trying to help) i just don't buy it. I'm a smart confident and capable person and I enjoy social situations. I just can not focus when my face starts up. I can't feel good about anything or enjoy anything. Everything is just this burning swollen blur! Most irritating. I think perhaps it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. People think they have social phobia disorder and so they blush but in reality I think people blush and then develop a social phobia, because they don't want to be seen to be all red and flushed. But the problem is compounded when you factor in the fact that you are always subconsciously aware that it could kick off at any time. And often the fear of it kicking off is enough to make it happen. Grrr ****in psychology. So I suppose hypnosis would be a solution for training your subconscious in this respect etc. But don't believe that you are some social phobic because you have what is essentially a vascular/skin condition. One good piece of advice I read somewhere was in relation to panic attacks. You know when it is just about to flare up and it feels like there is nothing you can do about it, and you can't sit still/feel the need to leave the room/situation. What is happening here is basically a mild form of panic attack. A panic attack is your body reacting to a surge in unexpected adrenaline. That thought of blushing crosses your mind and a little bit if adrenaline is released. Your body doesn't expect the adrenaline release and it's fear response is to release more adrenaline and so on. The result being that it makes the person feel totally exposed and utterly uncomfortable to say the least. So the piece of advice I have if you suffer these mild anxiety episodes which lead to flushing is, recognize the adrenaline for what it is, just your body reacting to an unpleasant though ie blushing. This piece if advice saved my ass at my nephews christening recently. Without it I would have been stood up infront of the congregation (as I was a godparent) with a face on me like a slapped arse. Luckily I talked myself out of a hideous situation
Right so sorry about the length if this answer, it's starting to seem more like a blog than a forum post response but it's something that I can really relate to. Just a few more things. I noticed you said something about micro ets sugery. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN CONSIDER IT!! basically your severing a nerve and the side effects have been known to include total lack of energy which will last the rest of your life, excessive sweating, decreased sex drive among others. It is much worse than facial blushing and cannot be undone.
Another option which I am considering is Intense Pulsed Lught (IPL) basically it uses broad spectrum light which collapses the damaged capillaries. It's basically just light which targets the hemoglobin (cause if redness) and is turned to heat resulting in the collapse of the blood vessel. The idea is that your body then removed the collapsed blood vessels which in turn removes the redness. It's supposed to take 4 to 5 treatments to clear everything up and each treatment should be 2 to 3 weeks apart. And once youve complete a course of treatments you only need a touch up treatment every six months or so. Some people swear by it. I'm gonna look into it. There's a crowd off the walkinstown roundabout who do it. They're called the Berkeley clinic. They'll give you a consultation and all that to see if it's for you. Its not for sallow skinned people as the melanin in their skin absorbs the light and it burns them. But having said that, tanned mother****ers tend not to have a problem with blushing so I guess that's not really too important for most people considering it. IPL is not a laser by the way, it's broad spectrum light so don't be out off at the thought of someone zapping your face off star wars style or something.
Beta blockers are used in anti depressants, I wouldn't recommend em. You don't want to end up on beta blockers. They also can't be mixed with certain foods either as far as I'm aware.
Something else which i plan on having a look at is a product called bio oil. It's used to clear up scars and stretch marks and "even out skin tone" now this I have actually seen the results of. A mate of mine had a big red scar on his chest. Bio oil pretty much cleared it up. It's relatively cheap so it might be worth seeing if it works on red cheeks too.
So I hope this can be of some help to you or anyone else reading this. To summarize, basically a healthy diet, careful skin care regime, and perhaps medical intervention such as IPL and even just talking about it on threads like these or to someone you cam trust/open up to. I know it's hard to talk about as it's kind of embarrassing but talking does help. Don't keep it to yourself, and just realize YOU ARE NOT ALONE. just keep in mind that the next time you feel your face burning just know that some other poor miserable bastard like me might just be going through the same thing. The main point I think is that all these things must be implemented together to combat the symptoms. I also don't buy that doing something about it will make it worse because itl be on your mind more. Staying positive is really key here. Hey if that IPL is what it's cracked up to be well then who knows. Problem solved..? Maybe! But I seriously reckon that with the right amount and types of attention. This problem can definitely be eradicated from your life. Anyway best of luck with it. Keep the faith.