red face

I am a 49 year old white male.  I had acne and a lot of sun exposure when I was a teenager.  Over the last year or so my face and neck have become more red.  The redness on my face is highly diffused and within the normal range.  My skin just looks sensitive or irritated.  The discoloration on the front of my neck is more pronounced.  It starts above my shirt collar and goes up the sides of my neck toward my ears.  There is no dicoloration around my trachea.  I have looked at photos of rosacea on the internet.  My skin is not blotchy and the redness is not pronounced over my cheeks and nose.  I don't have any bumps, but I do get flushed with exercise or when I put my head down.  It doesn't particularly bother me but people have started to comment that I look like I am sunburned.  Is there anything I can do about this?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

The neck redness is called Poikiloderma of Civatte, which means blotchy skin named by an old French skin guy named Civatte.  It comes from chronic sun exposure and doesn't go away.  There's usually a zone of clear skin right under the chin in the center, where the chin has protected the skin from sun exposure.  Most people don't treat this, but if you want to look into it, consult a dermatologist who uses lasers or similar devices, which may be able to soften the redness.  Also, you'll get the kind of definitive diagnosis I can't give you from a distance, but that's what it sounds like.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff