Skin blushing/flushing

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Skin layers

Skin blushing/flushing

Definition:

Skin blushing or flushing is a sudden reddening of the face, neck and occasionally, upper chest.

Alternative Names:

Blushing; Flushing; Red face

Considerations:

Blushing is a normal response when embarrassed, angry, feeling guilty, or experiencing some other strong emotion.

Flushing of the face may also be associated with certain medical conditions.

Common Causes:

extremes of emotion
rapid changes in temperature
hot or spicy foods
rosacea
high fever
alcohol abuse or alcohol intolerance
medications such as Diabinese (for diabetics) and niacin (for lowering cholesterol -- sometimes contained in high-potency vitamins)
menopause ("hot flush" -- due to a drop in estrogen levels)
carcinoid syndrome

Home Care:

Eliminate any triggers that you can identify. Try to avoid hot drinks, spicy food, extremes of temperature, and bright sunlight.

Call your health care provider if:

there is continual and persistent flushing
other symptoms, such as diarrhea, are present

What to expect at your health care provider's office:

The medical history will be obtained and a physical examination performed.

Medical history questions documenting your skin blushing/flushing in detail may include:

location
- Do you have facial flushing (blushing)?
- Does it affect the whole body?
quality
- Are you having hot flushes?
time pattern
- Do you have flushing attacks?
- How often do you have flushing or blushing?
- Are episodes getting worse?
- Are they getting more frequent?
aggravating factors
- Is it worse after alcohol intake?
other
- What other symptoms are also present?
- Is there diarrhea?
- Is there wheezing?
- Are there hives?
- Is there difficulty breathing?

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