r/CuringBlushing

I just came across this sub and have been looking through some of the posts.

I get blushing every now and then too, and I’m not trying to recommend anything here, but one thing that seemed to help me slightly was the peptide GHK-Cu. Again, not a recommendation, just sharing my personal experience.

I used it for about 3 months, and during that time I started noticing that even though I could feel myself blushing, when I looked in the mirror it didn’t actually look nearly as bad as it normally would. It looked pretty minimal, even though I was expecting it to be way worse.

I honestly don’t know what exactly caused that. Maybe it had something to do with the collagen-related effects of the peptide, but I really have no idea. Maybe there’s some alternative to that instead of having to inject something.

Hopefully this helps someone here, or at least gives someone an idea to look into whether there might be some kind of connection. Maybe someone else has had a similar experience too.

This is some of the main stuff I've picked up from years of dealing with severe blushing myself and reading into it, not a complete or definitive list, just some things that have genuinely helped. Split in multiple sections below. It also includes things to avoid which are important to note

There's a very similar post to this on this sub but since recently alot of new members have joined + reddit isnt always good at suggesting older posts ive tidied it up and this reposted it. I hope everyone understands :)

WHAT TO DO

(In no particular order)

1. If your blushing is severe and life-impacting, discuss prescription options such as clonidine or propranolol with a doctor. Clonidine seems to work better than propranolol for blushing (in my own experience), but in saying that, propranolol can still do wonders—it just isn't as direct for stopping blushing as clonidine in my experience. DISCLAIMER: see what your doctor recommends and make sure to go through a good, reliable doctor, medications can have dangerous side effects if not taken appropriately and correctly

2. Cut out the acids and active ingredients in skincare products. They destroy your skin barrier and make flushing worse. Stick to a basic, gentle moisturizer.

3. Get a medical-standard camouflage cream (makeup). This is usually used for vitiligo or birthmarks. It has insane coverage and works miles better than standard "high-coverage makeups." I use Dermacolor Camouflage Cream.

4. Get a green concealer. Put this on your bare skin and blend until it's not green (green visually cancels out red). It makes the skin appear whiter, or for more coverage, don't worry about leaving it fairly green on your skin and then layer your regular makeup over it. I use Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Colour Correcting Concealer (Green), and I have also used Life Proof Camo Colour Corrector.

5. Drink coconut water and avoid salt. Coconut water has a lot of potassium, which actively flushes out excess sodium. Too much salt increases your blood volume and dilates your blood vessels, meaning more pressurized blood surges to your face, making your flushes twice as intense and red.

6. Get Excel-V or Vbeam laser. Though they cost a bit and usually require multiple sessions, if you're serious about controlling your blushing, this is something to consider. These lasers can significantly reduce the severity of a blush and other redness metrics for most people. The settings matter, and if a clinic doesn't use the correct settings specifically for treating flushing, they may give weak results. It is incredibly powerful if used right and can be life-changing.

7. Use a skin barrier repair cream. I’ve personally used and recommend La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ Balm Cream.

8. Use CeraVe SA Smoothing Cleanser every night (that specific one). This may look contradictory to rule number 2 since I mentioned cutting out all active ingredients, but this is the lone exception. This was recommended to me by a laser clinic that specializes specifically in skin redness and flushing, and I can confirm it has made a massive difference to my skin.

9. Overall, try to stay fit and healthy. Intense cardio has helped me immensely (I like to go on the treadmill until I'm dripping sweat). It trains your heart not to beat as hard during stressful moments, which helps when you are in situations that trigger a blush. The calmer your heart stays during triggers, the less intense the blush will be.

10. Use a sunscreen every single day to protect your face from harsh UV rays. UV radiation creates intense thermal heat on the skin and triggers systemic inflammation, which dilates your blood vessels and makes your face an absolute magnet for flushing. For blushers, sun protection isn't just about avoiding sunburn, it is a critical shield to stop UV rays from supercharging your vascular reactivity.

WHAT TO AVOID -----

1. Never try Rhofade or Mirvaso. These are unfortunately commonly prescribed topical creams that constrict facial vessels, resulting in no redness for 4 to 10 hours. Though they "work" temporarily, they will eventually give you the most intense, horrible rebound redness you have ever experienced—it will make you feel grateful for your normal blushing, seriously. This is a widely known issue in the community and I am speaking directly from personal experience. Trust me on this one.

2. Never try the trends using vasoconstricting eye drops or nasal sprays on your skin. This has become popular on social media but it is virtually the same nightmare as Mirvaso and Rhofade. It will permanently damage your skin barrier and make your baseline situation 10x worse.

3. Don't get ETS surgery. This surgery is absolutely not worth it for treating blushing. The side effects (like severe compensatory sweating) are life-altering and do not justify the risk. While you will see rare people online who had it successfully done, it is simply not worth the gamble. This surgery is much better suited for people with Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) and has a much higher success rate for that issue than it does for facial blushing. There are so many other options to treat blushing that don't involve literally snipping a nerve in your chest.

4. Don't waste money on products that claim to cure blushing. Sure, there are some valid baseline tools out there (like the things I listed in the "What to Do" section), but the vast majority of skincare products are just marketed maliciously to make you think they'll cure your flushing. As someone who has tried all types of expensive creams and chemistry products, it is almost all BS.

5. Don't rub ice directly on your face. While ice can temporarily constrict facial vessels in the moment, the extreme temperature shocking your face worsens your skin barrier over time. It makes your skin significantly more sensitive and irritated in the long run, leading to more permanent baseline redness.

6. Try to avoid nitric oxide boosters (beets, pomegranates, spinach, dark chocolate). They wide-open your blood vessels, making it physically effortless for a massive, burning flush to take over your face. You can still have foods that contain nitric oxide, but just be aware that they will usually cause you to flush and blush a lot harder if you get triggered afterward.

7. Reduce high-histamine foods (aged cheeses, cured meats, wine, fermented foods). Histamines trigger internal inflammation, directly dilating your facial blood vessels and flooding your skin with intense heat.

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I hope this genuinely helps out! At the end of the day there are 100 more things i could have added and by no means is this perfect. But for this i wanted to add the main things ive learnt from experience and research.

Been down a rabbit hole on what actually happens biologically during a sudden blush. And this post isnt about rosececa nor is this community but I found something from rosacea research that I think still has useful info for us, so bear with me.

Landed on CGRP — calcitonin gene-related peptide. It's a neuropeptide that helps nerves and blood vessels communicate, and one of its jobs is vasodilation: widening blood vessels, increasing blood flow.

What caught my attention: our (idiopathic craniofacial erythema) blushing is specific. Face goes red suddenly after a trigger, spreads to ears/neck/chest, fades once the trigger's gone. That's different from rosacea's persistent redness, but the vascular machinery underneath (how blood vessels widen and flush) is similar enough that research on one can hint at something about the other.

The study itself: 2024, done in people with rosacea. On its own it tells us nothing about our condition. But here's the useful bit, it shows messing with the CGRP pathway can change a flushing response in actual humans. Blocking the CGRP receptor with erenumab reduced moderate-to-severe flushing in participants. Proof a pathway can dial flushing up or down, a mechanism, not a condition-specific finding, which is why it's fair game for us to think about.

Here's why it could matter for blushiny specifically: the trigger and the actual redness are two separate steps. Something social sets off the sympthetic nervous system, but the visible blush comes down to blood flow changes after that. CGRP is one of the things that can influence that second part, so even if the initial reaction still fires, targeting further downstream could theoretically take the edge off how intense the blush gets. It wont stop the mechanism from firing though

The information is limited at the end of the day on this but it sure is interesting and feel is useful as a post!

curious when people first realised blushing was a real issue for them + first experienced blushing in a severe way. for alot of people it seems to go back to childhood

quick post but wanted to remind everyone blushing doesnt define you! it says nothing negative about you, if anything it makes you cooler, atleast through my eyes lol

ive found most people who struggle deeply with this are real ass people, most people who blush are very self aware and concious, alot tend to be sincere and come across more trustworthy and likeable, probably because blushing usually shows vulnerability and emotions!

anyway, on a more serious note I completely understand blushing is horrible and life altering for some (including myself) its brought me to really dark places to the point where ive not even wanted to be alive :/ by no means is this something ive got over, blushing is still a major part of my life and continues to haunt me, the good thing is ive decided to try to push through and honestly its going ok. this is a long journey that alot of us are on and will be going through for possibly our whole lives, in saying that it doesnt mean its always going to be something that feels so negative and hard to live with. WE GOT THIS!

ps, im a party looking extremely red and blotchy, like a tomato, ive also had a few drinks, f*ck it you live once 🤣

Following up on the pinned post about this sub not being the focus for Rosacea + other skin conditions, I wanted to lay out the reasoning, since it comes up a lot.

Pathological blushing is largely understood as a sympathetic nervous system issue, driven by adrenaline and broader sympathetic arousal, not just adrenaline alone, rather than a localized skin barrier failure. In my case, baseline skin structure came back clear on 3D scans and exams from specialized medical laser clinics, and the flushing appears to be driven by that nervous system response rather than underlying skin damage. (Worth noting: some people naturally have rosier or more reactive-looking skin as part of their normal complexion, independent of any skin condition.) This is also part of why standard Rosacea treatments, Azelaic acid, Soolantra, barrier repair creams, tend to do little for pure emotional blushers: they're aimed at the skin, not the nervous system. It's also part of why ETS (endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy), which interrupts the sympathetic nerve pathway rather than treating the skin, is a recognized surgical option for severe cases, a treatment like that makes a lot more sense if nerve signaling, not skin/barrier damage, is the main driver.

When pure blushing gets treated as if it's just early-stage Rosacea, people struggling with severe blushing without Rosacea can end up drowning in posts, tips, and skincare routines that have little to do with what they're actually dealing with. That's not a minor inconvenience, it means the resources this community exists to provide stop being useful to a good chunk of the people relying on it. That's why it matters that this subreddit doesn't get flooded with isolated Rosacea flushing topics.

There are exceptions, and there's a fair amount of overlap that makes this tricky to draw a perfect line around. But overall, this is the community's focus, and the intention is simply to keep the sub as useful as possible for the people it's meant to serve.

Having Rosacea or other skin conditions dont disqualify you from being here. Plenty of people have both. If you also deal with the kind of reactive, emotionally-triggered blushing described above, separately from a skin condition, you're a good fit. It's only when a skin condition is the *sole* driver of your flushing that this isn't the right space for that specific issue.

It could be a mindset shift, a product, meds, therapy, maybe even something else, a thought process, a technique, anything that's made a real difference for you!

Guanfacine is a medication that works very similar to clondidne. There are differences that intrest me, it stays in your system way longer and it seems a bit less heavy.

This medication hypothetically should work since again, it uses some of the same path ways as clonidine. Im just wondering if anyone has experience with this medication

so there's this small study showing topical ibuprofen gel actually cuts down blushing during embarrassment, aka actual emotional blushing, not rosacea or general flushing. it blocks prostaglandins, which play into the vessel dilation that causes the blush.

I'm not saying the regular gel doesn't work, but if it works this well according to the study, it feels like there's probably room to make it into an actual dedicated product for facial blushing specifically, instead of a joint pain gel doing double duty. things like tweaking the concentration, the absorption/carrier so it works faster on facial skin, or formulating it to be more suited for facial skin overall, so it's both more effective for the blushing itself and better to actually use on your face.

Disclaimer I haven't personally tried anything like this properly, and I'm not even fully sure the study holds up, it was small. This is just an idea, not a recommendation. If there's anything to it, there could also be unknown risks with using it this way, so please take all of this with caution.

Murdoch University researchers have apparently discovered a cheap and effective way to reduce one of the human body's most curious expressions - blushing.

There are people in our community who are particularly frightened of blushing because they think that people who notice the blush will think less of them," said the study's lead author Professor Peter Drummond.

"This can make them even more anxious and make them blush even more. For some, this fear is so extreme that they avoid social encounters and sometimes even seek surgery to reduce the rush of blood to the cheeks."

During the study, 30 adults were connected to special equipment to measure blood flow in the cheeks. 16 of these people had a 'high fear of blushing'.

A small amount of ibuprofen gel was rubbed into one cheek, with ultrasound gel rubbed into the other cheek as a control. The subjects were then asked to participate in a cringe-worthy task – karaoke.

"We instructed them, one at a time, to sing along to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive for a full five minutes," Professor Drummond said.

"To heighten their embarrassment, we interjected every now and then asking them to sing louder, be more expressive, or sing in tune."

Previous studies led the researchers to believe that blushing is partly caused by an inflammatory reaction in the blood vessels of the face, brought on by compounds called prostaglandins.

Professor Drummond said the ibuprofen gel helped stop these compounds from forming, and significantly reduced blushing (caused by embarrassment) and flushing (brought on by exercise).

"The results were even more noticeable among those with a high fear of blushing," he said.

Ibuprofen gel is commonly available in chemists and supermarkets, and is often used as an anti-inflammatory to treat sprains, swelling and back pain.

"More research is needed to determine whether topical ibuprofen gel is suitable for intermittent or long-term use to treat blushing," Professor Drummond said.

"We're also looking to test whether ibuprofen tablets, aspirin, paracetamol or even a placebo, can deliver similar results."

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nothing here is %100 confirmed to work for everyone nor everytime. this is for education purposes, its only a small clinic trial done and should be taken with caution and understanding that there could be unknown risks, etc

I have severe flushing daily that burns so badly and has really impacted my quality of life. I’ve been on Carvedillol for about a month and haven’t noticed any change in my flushing. I have been on Paroxetine for a few weeks and still no change but studies showed it could take 12 weeks. I want to try Clonidine, but I’m losing so much hope and my face hurts so badly and I flush just so much.

When I got my wisdom teeth out last year (with anesthesia), I was flushed immediately when I woke up from the surgery, but for the rest of the day afterwards I was so not flushed and I wasn’t reacting at all to things I normally blush to. It was so crazy and gave me hope and then it all retuned next day. Why would this occur? Nervous system calmed by anesthesia? Blood vessel constriction? Are there any meds that could sort of mimic this effect?

Sorry guys I’m just really really struggling and I’m only in college and this has already ruined my life for years.

Has this helped anyone?

I took clonidine for a big presentation and it did NOT work on me omg. felt my face burning still.

Its almost been 3 weeks since my last vbeam session which i had to treat my facial blushing, which is personally triggered by strong emotions, mainly anxiety, stress and feeling overwhelmed and embarrassed.

So far the results have showed to be pretty decent. If you've been following the Vbeam posts ive made you'll know for my first vbeam I experienced amazing results for the first week, followed by really reactive bad skin for weeks following that, too than leveling out and overall seeing good results. Im assuming thats apart of the healing process. Nevertheless ive had similar results with this session, first week was incredible and than at the 8 day mark it felt like everything got worse, it stayed like that for a week and a bit and only in the last week ive felt like my skin has started to calm down and show the results more. So heads up, it can get worse b4 better.

In terms of what results ive seen, my skin is alot more evenly blushed when I do blush which %100 has made it more natural looking and less intense. Ive noticed the sides / where my blush ends dont cut off as harshly which again helps with the contrast of my white skin, its definitely an improvement im happy with. Im use to dealing with blushing that looks very rigid and harsh and blotchy and ive seen a significant reduction in that type.

Do I still blush? Yes absolutely but its gone from majority of the time being a harsh red to a light to medium pink.

Ive also noticed my skin feels a bit less prone to blushing / my threshold has slightly gone up. So not only has the visuals of the blush itself became better but im definitely blushing a bit less / some scenarios such as going out to the city and seeing my girlfriend's family, that would almost always make me blush where I noticed when it happened, I wasn't showing much colour at all. Of course it all varies everytime, there could be a time in the future I see them again and blush but usually there wss no chance at all id have calm skin, yet i did.

As someone who has been keen to fully stop my blushing and as someone who had huge expectations ive felt slightly annoyed at times that im still showing colour but if I compare where I was at too now there is a meaningful difference. I guess its about being realistic and greatful for change, and comparing the differences

A good way to put it, if your goal is to get vbeam so you never blush again in my experience you'll feel let down. If your goal is too improve the appearance too not look as severe and intense and too not be as senstive to blushing a bit of the time, with the right settings you'll probably feel quite satisfied and happy with the results.

Overall, everyone will have different results. Take this with a pinch of salt. Results obviously can differ :)

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previous vbeam update - https://www.reddit.com/r/CuringBlushing/s/h9U7et8Bs1

This sub is for excessive/reactive blushing and ICE, involuntary flushing triggered by emotions, social situations, stress, embarrassment, heat, exercise, or certain foods. Example: that fast, hot blush when you're put on the spot or feel self-conscious, which in some can spread to neck or ears, impossible to control or hide. It can obviously be triggered by many other things such as feeling overwhelmed, hot, etc but thats a good example

Rosacea is different — a chronic skin condition causing persistent redness, not primarily emotional/social flushing. Even if it looks similar on the outside, if your flushing is driven by rosacea rather than an emotional/social trigger, this isn't the right space for that side of it.

You can have both - that's completely possible. But if your blushing is a symptom of rosacea or another skin condition, that's usually not what this community is for. If you also experience the type of reactive blushing described above separately from a skin condition you may have then you're a good fit here and there shouldn't be an issue. Having a separate skin issue non related to your blushing doesnt make this community a bad fit for you, its if its the reason alone. Not sure which is driving it? Also fine, ask away. If your main issue is rosacea itself, a rosacea-specific community will serve you better.

Thanks for understanding 🙏

Saw this question come up a lot, so here's the basic difference. This isn't the same for everyone, but understanding how these medications work can help explain why some respond better to one than the other.

The core difference: where each one acts

Propranolol is a beta-blocker. It works at the peripheral level, it doesn't stop the brain from sending out stress signals, but it blocks many of the body's receptors from responding to adrenaline once it's already been released. In facial skin specifically, this can blunt the blood vessel changes that cause visible redness. Propranolol does cross into the brain somewhat, so it's not purely peripheral, but its main blushing-relevant effect is downstream, at the blood vessels themselves.

Clonidine works upstream of that. It's an alpha-2 agonist that acts mainly in the brainstem to dial down how much sympathetic "fight or flight" signal gets sent out in the first place. Instead of blocking the effects once they arrive, it reduces the outgoing signal itself.

Why this might make one work better for a given person

Because they intervene at different points in the chain, they tend to target different symptoms:

• If your blushing shows up mostly as the physical reaction, flushing, warmth, rapid heartbeat, in a moment where you don't necessarily feel a big internal surge of anxiety, propranolol is blocking the exact step where that reaction happens, so it may have more to work with.

• If you get a strong "keyed up," on-edge, adrenaline-surge feeling before or during a trigger, racing thoughts, restlessness, a whole-body stress response, clonidine is acting further upstream, turning down that overall signal, so it may address more of what's driving the reaction for you.

Basically: propranolol is a downstream brake, clonidine is an upstream dimmer switch. Someone whose problem is mostly downstream (the physical flush) may not get much extra benefit from turning down a signal that wasn't the main issue. Someone whose problem is mostly upstream (the surge itself) may not get full relief from just blocking the vessels' response to a signal that's still firing at full strength.

Heads up

This isn't a diagnostic rule. You can have a lot of anticipatory anxiety and still respond better to propranolol, or barely feel anxious at all and still respond well to clonidine. Responding to one doesn't prove what's actually driving your blushing, physiology varies person to person, and blushing itself is more complicated than a single pathway.

Neither medication removes the trigger or the emotional reaction itself, they're each affecting a different part of the body's downstream response to it.