First of all I would like to thank my friend from Texas for helping me set up this website. I was one of the people out there looking for a website to give me simple and easy ways to understand information about facial blushing and facial blushing treatments. Now I believe my fellow "web-designers" and myself have created a one-stop website for sufferers of facial blushing.
What is Facial Blushing?
Blushing - The act of turning red; the appearance of a reddish colour or flush upon the cheeks
More specifically facial blushing can be described as an involuntary reddening of the face and may the result of embarrassment or stress. Some doctors believe that facial blushing is the result of an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This is the system that sub-consciously helps us regulate organs and controls the diameter of blood vessels in the face. In people suffering from facial blushing these nerves are unusually sensitive to emotional stress and when that person is subjected to a certain stimulus (such as being put on the spot), the nerves tell the blood vessels to open wide. The open blood vessels make it easier for blood to flood to the face, thus causing the reddening of the face.
Facial blushing is a term that is somewhat misleading as many sufferers will not only blush in the face, but witness blushing of the chest, ears and neck. Severe facial blushing is more common in people with social phobias, but people may suffer from facial blushing without suffering from social phobia.
Symptoms of Facial blushing
- Intense blushing, often for no apparent reason.
- Sensation of heat in the face.
- Shame and embarrassment.
- Avoidance of eye contact.
- Avoidance of any possible triggers, including meeting new people or talking in front of groups, for fear of going red.
What are the causes of facial blushing?
There seems to be a consensus that the main reasons for facial blushing is either psychological or physiological.
The psychological reasons are linked to shyness or social phobia and in many cases sufferers of facial blushing are in a vicious circle. The blushing may be the reason for the social phobia and the social phobia causes facial blushing. Facial blushing caused by the psychological factors often occurs when the sufferer feels critized by others, or perceives that others may negatively evaluate them. It is most common when in company of strangers, but facial blushing may also occur when the sufferer is together with friends and family.
The physiological causes of facial blushing is believed to be attributed to the "fight or flight" instinct that is still witnessed in animals. Some doctors believe that even though most human beings have no need for this instinct in everyday life, some people still display some of the physiological effects associated with the instinct. In preparation for the "fight or flight" the body expands the blood vessels and because the face and the other areas affected by facial blushing has greater vascularization in relation to the skin, the areas will go red.
