View source for Blushing

{{Short description|Reddening of a person's face due to emotion}}
{{Redirect|Erythrophobia|fear of the color red|Chromophobia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
[[File:Blushing girl 0001.jpg|thumb|right|A woman blushing and covering her face.]]
'''Blushing''' or '''erubescence''' is the reddening of a person's [[face]] due to [[Psychology|psychological]] reasons.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-10-03|title=Blushing|url=https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blushing/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=nhs.uk|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Blushing|url=https://www.inspirewellbeing.org/students/student-portal/student-topics/finding-your-feet/blushing|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Inspire Students|language=en|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214911/https://www.inspirewellbeing.org/students/student-portal/student-topics/finding-your-feet/blushing|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Meanings & Definitions of English Words |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/erubescence |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=Dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref> It is normally involuntary and triggered by emotional [[Stress (biology)|stress]] associated with [[Passion (emotion)|passion]], [[embarrassment]], [[shyness]], [[fear]], [[anger]], or [[Lovestruck|romantic stimulation]].

Severe blushing is also common in people who have [[social anxiety]] in which the person experiences extreme and persistent [[anxiety]] in social and performance situations.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==Description ==
Blushing is generally distinguished, despite a close physiological relation, from [[Flushing (physiology)|flushing]], which is more intensive and extends over more of the body and seldom has a mental source. [[Idiopathic craniofacial erythema]] is a medical condition where a person blushes strongly with little or no provocation. People who have social phobia are particularly prone to idiopathic craniofacial erythema.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==Physiology==
{{sources|needed|date=May 2024}}
A blush is a reddening of the cheeks and forehead brought about by increased [[capillary]] blood flow in the skin. It can also extend to the ears, neck and upper chest, an area termed the 'blush region'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-23/edition-5/puzzle-blushing|title=The puzzle of blushing|website=thepsychologist.bps.org.uk|access-date=2019-05-25}}</ref>

There is evidence that the blushing region is anatomically different in structure. The facial skin, for example, has more capillary loops per unit area and generally more vessels per unit volume than other skin areas. In addition, blood vessels of the cheek are wider in diameter, are nearer the surface, and visibility is less diminished by tissue fluid. These specific characteristics of the architecture of the facial vessels led Wilkin in an overview of possible causes of facial flushing to the following conclusion: "[...] Increased capacity and greater visibility can account for the limited distribution of flushing".<ref>''Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology'', Wilkin. 1988</ref>

Evidence for special [[vasodilation]] mechanisms was reported by Mellander and his colleagues (Mellander, Andersson, Afzelius, & Hellstrand, 1982). They studied buccal segments of the human facial veins [[in vitro]]. Unlike veins from other areas of the skin, facial veins responded with an active [[myogenic]] contraction to passive stretch and, therefore, were able to develop an intrinsic basal tone. Additionally Mellander et al. showed that the veins in this specific area were also supplied with beta-[[adrenoceptor]]s in addition to the common alpha-adrenoceptors. These beta-adrenoceptors could exert a dilator mechanism on the above-described basal tone of the facial cutaneous [[venous plexus]]. Mellander and his colleagues propose that this mechanism is involved in emotional blushing.

Drummond has partially confirmed this effect by pharmacological blocking experiments (Drummond. 1997). In a number of trials, he blocked both alpha-[[adrenergic receptor]]s (with phentolamine) and beta-adrenergic receptors (with propranolol introduced transcutaneously by iontophoresis). Blushing was measured at the forehead using a dual channel laser Doppler flowmeter. Subjects were undergraduate students divided into frequent and infrequent blushers according to self-report. Their mean age was 22.9 years, which is especially favorable for assessing blushing since young subjects are more likely to blush and blush more intensively. The subjects underwent several procedures, one of which was designed to produce blushing. 

Alpha-adrenergic blockade with phentolamine did not influence the amount of blushing in frequent or infrequent blushers, indicating that the release of sympathetic vasoconstrictor tone does not substantially influence blushing. This result was expected since vasoconstrictor tone in the facial area is known to be generally low (van der Meer. 1985). Beta-adrenergic blockade with propranolol, on the other hand, decreased blushing in both frequent and infrequent blushers. However, despite complete blockade, blood flow still increased substantially during the embarrassment and blushing inducing procedure. Additional vasodilator mechanisms must, therefore, be involved.

==Psychology==
[[Charles Darwin]] devoted Chapter 13 of his 1872 ''[[The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals]]'' to complex emotional states including self-attention, shame, shyness, modesty and blushing. He described blushing as "... the most peculiar and most human of all expressions."

Several different psychological and psycho-physiological mechanisms for blushing have been hypothesized by Crozier (2010): "An explanation that emphasizes the blush's visibility proposes that when we feel shame we communicate our emotion to others and in doing so we send an important signal to them. It tells them something about us. It shows that we are ashamed or embarrassed, that we recognise that something is out of place. It shows that we are sorry about this. It shows that we want to put things right. To blush at innuendo is to show awareness of its implications and to display modesty that conveys that you are not brazen or shameless. The blush makes a particularly effective signal because it is involuntary and uncontrollable. Of course, a blush can be unwanted [but the] costs to the blusher on specific occasions are outweighed by the long-term benefits of being seen as adhering to the group and by the general advantages the blush provides: indeed the costs may enhance the signal's perceived value."<ref>Crozier, R. (2010), [http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm?volumeID=23&editionID=188&ArticleID=1670 "The Puzzle of Blushing"], ''The Psychologist'', Vol 23. No 5, May 2010, pp. 390–393.]</ref> A number of techniques may be used to help prevent or reduce blushing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://howtostopblushing.net/how-to-stop-blushing/|title=How Can People Stop Blushing Forever|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401143736/http://howtostopblushing.net/how-to-stop-blushing/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-04-01}}</ref> The most extreme of these interventions is a surgical technique known as [[endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy]].<ref name="Park">{{cite journal |last1=Park |first1=Jae Kil |last2=Hyun |first2=Kwanyong |last3=Moon |first3=Mi Hyoung |last4=Lee |first4=Jungsun |title=Surgical treatment of facial blushing: Patient selection and operative technique (retrospective observational study) |journal=Medicine |date=8 July 2022 |volume=101 |issue=27 |pages=e29808 |doi=10.1097/MD.0000000000029808 |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9259148/|pmc=9259148 }}</ref>

Salzen (2010) suggested that blushing and flushing were manifestations of the physiological impact of the instinctual [[Fight-or-flight response|fight/flight]] mechanism when neither confrontation nor retreat is possible.<ref>Salzen, E. (2010), "Flushing and blushing" letter in ''The Psychologist'', Vol 23, No 7, July 2010, p. 539.</ref>

Blushing has been linked to activation in the [[cerebellum]] and the left [[Paracentral lobule|paracentral lobe.]]<ref name="o518">{{cite journal |last=Nikolić |first=Milica |last2=di Plinio |first2=Simone |last3=Sauter |first3=Disa |last4=Keysers |first4=Christian |last5=Gazzola |first5=Valeria |date=2024-07-17 |title=The blushing brain: neural substrates of cheek temperature increase in response to self-observation |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |publisher=The Royal Society |volume=291 |issue=2027 |page= |doi=10.1098/rspb.2024.0958 |issn=1471-2954 |doi-access=free|hdl=20.500.11755/c2d7e660-5628-4c77-aa7b-340039915a70 |hdl-access=free |pmc=11251765 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

*Vickers, S., ''MyBlushingCure.com: Free Information from a former blusher'', Australian Publisher, 2012
*Crozier, W. R., ''Blushing and the Social Emotions: The Self Unmasked'', Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4039-4675-2}}
*Miller, R. S., ''Embarrassment: Poise and Peril in Everyday Life'', Guilford Press, 1997. {{ISBN|1-57230-247-X}}
*Jadresic, E., ''When Blushing Hurts: Overcoming Abnormal Facial Blushing'' (2nd edition, expanded and revised), iUniverse, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1491750285}}.
*Daniels B. W ''Understanding Uncontrollable Facial Blushing'', Neptune, Elizabeth Stewart, 2010.
*[http://www.esfbchannel.com/ ESFB Channel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118110219/http://www.esfbchannel.com/ |date=18 January 2019 }} - The online community for people suffering from facial blushing, excessive sweating, rosacea and social phobia
*[http://www.charlesumlauf.com/blushing2.htm] - Blushing in Plato

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{{Nonverbal communication}}

[[Category:Emotion]]
[[Category:Reflexes]]