Causes and Treatment of Face Flushing

Face flushing is often associated with dilation of capillary vessels, a symptom that small blood vessels under face skin are visually noticed when they are dilated.

Women temporarily experience flushing of the face when their blood vessels are dilated after menopause. `Dilation of capillary vessels,` however, happens when vessels fail to recover after expanding due to the abuse steroid ointments or complication of skin infection.

Redness and flushing of the skin, first starting from cheeks, later spread to cheekbones, foreheads and noses. People with face flushing sometimes suffer from anthropophobia because their symptoms are associated with alcoholic addiction.

To prevent the redness of the face, it is important to avoid such triggers as alcohol and spicy food. It is also a good idea to wear a hat to protect skin from ultraviolet rays and use sun block creams.

When you exercise, stay in cool areas and try not to work too hard. When a dilation of capillary vessels is accompanied by pustules, it is called a rhinophyma, or a strawberry nose. Be careful not to apply ointments used for pimples. It usually takes more than two months to treat the disease with medications and gels or creams.

“In addition to medication and ointments, optical therapy and pigment laser technique, which selectively remove reddened vessels, are also available. In particular, V-beam laser is used widely since it hardly leaves bruise-like spots after operations,” said Dr. Choi Gwang-ho at Choice Skin Care Clinic.

“There are some 20 to 30% chances of reoccurrence after laser operations,” said Dr. Im I-seok at Theme Skin Care Clinic. “The operations removes dilated vessels, but it doesn’t mean the redness has been completely cured.”

Redness and fever on the face are also caused by overreaction of thyroid glands. When thyroid hormone increases metabolism, it generates heat. This case, you need to go to see a doctor. Consult with health care providers when face flushing persists during hypertension treatment.

Lee Jin-han, Doctor, likeday@donga.com