Blush

To blush is to display redness in one's face; the term is seldom applied except when the redness is construed as a result of embarrassment, shame, or modesty. more...

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Blushing is generally distinguished, despite a close physiological relation, from flushing, which is more intensive and extends over more of the body, and seldom has a mental source.

If redness persists for abnormal amounts of time after blushing, then it may be considered an early sign of rosacea.

A medical condition known as Idiopathic craniofacial erythema exists, in which the sufferer blushes strongly with little or no provocation.

Erythrophobia (literally "fear of redness") refers to pathological blushing.

Physiological anatomy of the cutaneous blood circulation in humans

The function of cutaneous blood flow is nutrition of the skin and regulation of body heat. The higher the cutaneous blood flow, the more heat radiates. Restriction of cutaneous blood flow curtails the loss of body heat, which is important in a cold environment. The circulatory system of the skin contains three major types of blood vessels that enable it to fulfill these two important functions. The first type are arteries, capillaries, and veins that serve mainly nutrition needs. The second type is the subcutaneous venous plexus that plays a major role in the conduction of heat, and contains a major fraction of the cutaneous blood volume. The third type are arteriovenous anastomoses which can be found in areas of the body especially exposed to maximal cooling like the hands, feet, nose, lips and ears. These areas are called apical structures and are richly innervated. The anastomoses connect cutaneous arterioles and venules directly, playing an important role in the reduction of blood flow in a cold environment (Rowell. 1993; Guyton. 1981; Rowell. 1974).

Regulation of blood flow in the skin

Blood flow in the cutaneous resistance vessels and the subcutaneous venous plexus are both neurally and locally regulated. However, there are some important differences. One is, that cutaneous resistance vessels exhibit a basal tone independently of innervation in reaction to passive stretch induced by blood pressure (Rowell. 1974). This intrinsic basal tone is normally absent in cutaneous capacitance vessels .

Along with this basal tone, all resistance vessels in the skin receive a tonic outflow from sympathetic vasoconstrictor fibers. This tonic outflow is inversely associated with body temperature. Vasodilation therefore occurs passively in resistance vessels the (alpha-adrenergic) vasoconstrictor tone decreases. Furthermore, an active neurogenic vasodilation must be assumed in the human skin. However, it is not clear if this vasodilation is mediated by specific vasodilator nerve fibers or if neuro-humoral effects are involved that are associated with the sympathetic cholinergic activation of sweat glands (Rowell. 1993; Lembeck & Holzbauer. 1988). Although some experiments lead to the conclusion that sympathetic outflow is involved in facial vasodilation (Drummond & Lance. 1987), 40 years of research have not clarified the mechanism behind active vasodilation.

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