Skin hyperemia in a habitual blusher.
Blushing, a vascular skin response to emotion is difficult to investigate since subjects are not able to blush on demand in a laboratory setting. Laser Doppler fluxmetry measures blood flux changes noninvasively. In a 28 year old lady distressed by habitual blushing we were able to document changes in skin blood flux during blushing. Forehead skin blood flux increased suddenly from 20 to 45 arbitrary units and returned to baseline values after about 3 minutes. It is the first time that emotionally provoked hyperemia in head skin is documented.
Steurer
J
J
Medical Policlinic, University Hospital, Zürich.
Hoffmann
U
U
Bollinger
A
A
D001821:Blushing / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*