Ruddy Complexions

This is an interesting condition.  It often stems from Northern European ancestries whose genetic history was such that there was little sun for the last 10,000 years.  Northern Ireland, England, Sweden are among a few. The descendants from the Northern European Countries are typically light skinned,  blond or reddish hair and light colored eyes.  Typically these races will respond to sunlight by flushing.  What flushing is, is the capillaries in the skin dilate to try and disperse excess heat.  These capillaries are analogous to tiny streams.  They dilate for a while and then relax.  As you get older, and enjoy the sunlight that was not present in your ancestral home, your vessels go through a multitude of dilation and contraction.  Soon the vessels will stretch out and not contract as well.  The vessel that was once a stream becomes a river.  As the vessels increase in size you will notice a slight flushing to your skin.  This flushing will often be exacerbated by temperature in the room or hot or spicy foods and drinks. Eventually after enough time you may see tiny arteries or veins on the skin.  This is typically when one would consult a dermatologist.  Incidently,  this is where the slang word "red neck" came from.  Northern Europeans would come from ireland and pick potatoes in the south.  Since they were bending over, their necks would become exposed to daily sun so much that a permanet reddness would result. .Now you may think that you do not get much sunlight,  but we are talking about a lifetime accumualtion of solar radiation.  Your face and hands are almost always exposed to the enviroment.

Conservative treatment for this rosy skin involves staying calm, cool and collective.  Anything that heats up the body will result in a redder complexion. Avoid extreme tempetures in enviroment and food or drink.  Hot in temperature or hot in spice will both contribute to the problem. Avoid any product that claims to have anti-aging properties.  This means there is an acid of some sort that is meant to mildly irritate the skin into becoming more plump.  Acid irritation makes red skin redder. The ONLY acid that may be helpful is Vitamin C acid.  Gentle cleansers and moisturizers are all that is needed.  A dermatologist favorite is a brand called Cetaphil available at your local drug store. Don't fret about anti-aging creams as people with these types of complexions already have plump skin cells and less wrinkles than their non-ruddy friends.

Now if people are asking you if you have been drinking and you have not, or if you are being made fun of because you flush so easily then you may want to go to the next step. This would involve treatment with a green based laser. Your insurance company considers this a cosmetic treatment so will offer no coverage.  Lasers are essentially really bright lights that are of a single wavelength or color.  Since green is opposite of red on a color wheel,  the green laser light will be absorbed by the tiny red vessels and will shrink by preferential heating.  How much they shrink is dependent on how many treatments you have.  You would assume that you would only want one treatment to get it over with.  But what we have found in our experience with lasers is that things that are treated in one intense treatment are fraught with more complication than multiple small treatments.  In fact, you will get a better result by doing several treatments over time.  How many treatments?  Typically, it is one treatment per decade of life.  Several different name brands are available for this laser treatment.  One of my favorites is an IPL,  Intense Pulsed Light, because it has been shown to be safe and treatment of choice for many physicians for the last 5 years.  What this translates to is that it is safe and effective.

Read more at my website:  Dr Helton's website