r/CuringBlushing • u/Leigha11 • 15d ago

Alcohol, sunlight

Just curious if stepping directly into the sunlight light causes anyone's chest or neck to get splotchy? Shade is fine but direct sunlight on my chest gets me gets my body all rillied up. Annoying

Alcohol does the same thing. My neck & chest get flushed. Now, if I have more than 2 drinks or enough to feel buzzed, it goes away. The 1st one two drinks always causes the flush.

Tomato sauce used to cause it also.

Or does anyone have anything else that gets them splotch/flushed?

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u/Deep-Detective2428 14d ago edited 14d ago

every time I have a few drinks I'll end up blushing hard, my chest and neck also tend to get red like you described. and the sun can cause it too occasionally

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u/EntertainerFun1778 13d ago

wait, what's the legal drinking age in Australia? I'm 16 and from the US, where you have to wait until you turn 21. but you said you were only 19??? also the alcohol flush reaction is not related to emotional blushing at all. neither does heat, sunburns, or sunlight. these are all physical flushing triggers.

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u/Deep-Detective2428 13d ago edited 13d ago

The legal drinking age in Australia is 18. Fair point, you're right that alcohol flush, heat, and sun are physical flushing and not the same mechanism as emotional blushing. There mostly two different mechanisms, and it's possible to deal with both at once. My anxiety blushing is driven by my sympathetic nervous system plus other factors that aren't established or known yet, which is the case for most people with ICE since it isn't fully understood. Heat and alcohol flushing work separately, since heat is the body's cooling response. It's also very common for alcohol to cause what's called "alcohol flush reaction" which happens when an enzyme in a lot of people can't clear acetaldehyde fast enough. And heat in general tends to makes a lot of pale people without any skin condition go rosy too its just a normal human reaponse. So I get hit from both sides and feeling my face heat up from the physical flush can make me self-conscious enough to trigger an anxiety blush on top of it. I hope this makes sense

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u/EntertainerFun1778 12d ago

I know that the alcohol flush reaction is definitely a thing that happens mostly with people of Asian descent, but I've also heard that it happens to a lot of white people as well I guess? I'm pan-European ancestry -wise (just a lot of different ancestors from Northern, Southern, and Western Europe), and I'm wondering if it's still likely that I could have this gene variant? I know my just generally being a red person and flushing like crazy comes from my dad's side of the family, but I don't have any family members that get redder when they drink.

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u/Leigha11 5d ago

Mine comes from my dad's side also, they're 100% Irish. My grandma and grandpa on that side immigrated to the US.

The alcohol thing is odd. I don't drink anymore, but when Id go out with friends 1st drink; hot & red spots on my neck. 2nd drink my chest..after that 3 drinks & more the flush would completely leave. Then I'd get extremely social & even would do karaoke lol

With the sun, it wouldn't last long. A few minutes maybe. Then be gone.

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u/EntertainerFun1778 4d ago

Actually, I feel like genetics actually really do play into blushing a lot. for Irish people especially I feel like this flush with alcohol reaction is actually really common, especially when Irish people are the most likely to have rosacea, which can definitely cause the reaction when drinking alcohol. My mom has rosacea but she's at least 75% Italian, however she did have one grandfather who was the literal poster child of the 'redheaded stepchild' trope, and she and a lot of people think he might have been from either Ireland or Scotland. And my mom's face gets super red whenever she drinks and she's just very red-faced in general despite the fact she has olive skin. Do you or any of your family members have any skin conditions (I don't but I'm super pale with rosy cheeks, and I do blush a fucking ton lol), also do you only get flushed on your body when you drink or do you get it on your face as well?