Health encyclopaedia

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Causes of Blushing

Blushing is usually a natural and involuntary bodily response to an emotional feeling such as embarrassment, guilt, shame or nervousness.

Other causes of blushing include:

• Menopause. Widening of the blood vessels in the face causes the hot flushes of the menopause. In this case, the autonomic system is stimulated because the woman is not producing enough of the female sex hormone, oestrogen.
• Certain drugs such as tamoxifen can cause blushing.
• Spicy foods, high fever, or exercise. When the body becomes too hot, the brain detects this and tries to bring body temperature back to normal. One of the ways it does this is by opening blood vessels wider, bringing blood to the surface of the skin to be cooled down.

Severe blushing (known as idiopathic cranio-facial erythema) is common in people who are extremely anxious or self-conscious in social situations. This condition may be diagnosed as social phobia.

Sometimes reddening of the skin is caused by a skin condition. For example, the condition acne rosacea is caused by permanent widening of the blood vessels of the skin of the cheeks and nose. It can also affect the eyes.

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