Red flushed face and neck most of the time

[rfish]

I have an interesting problem and i was wondering if any one can shed light on it. I always had a bit of red complexion and over the years it seems to be getting worse.

Basically most of my face and especially the sides and back of my neck and part of my upper chest is red most of the time.
  
It looks like i am flushed an if I press the skin it turns white then fills back in so that tells me i have excess blood near the surface of the skin.

Now this is the interesting part to me , parts of my face that do not get much sun exposure are fine, it is only parts where I have sunburned in the past,

I have always had circulation issues as my hands for years go red sometimes purplish in spots I am not worried about that as i have had that since my late teens.

I am wondering if this is all due to years of sun exposure, I do see a dermatoligist once a year to check for moles and melanoma.

here is a bit about me, i am a 33 year old male, fairly fit, do smoke, exercise a bit.  About six months ago i had a chest xray, EKG test, lung function test (smoking) and all that was fine.

Is there any thing I can do about this or do I just have to live with it.  My mother also has a bit of a red complexion as well.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Some people are just ruddy and tend to blush and flush.  Sun exposure over the years can aggravate this tendency, which often becomes more pronounced as people approach middle age (sorry, I said approach....)  Unless there are pimples, rosacea treatments don't help.  Laser treatments can minimize the redness, though they may need to be repeated over the years.  Sun protection can slow down the process, but you may want to look at some point at such cosmetic procedures for minimizing the ruddy appearance.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[muvup15]

I too have red facial flushing and it is almost constant and my hands and feet get very cold too. The strange thing is my hands and feet don't get white and then red like raynaud syndrome they just stay red and the colder they get the redder they get. Any ideas of whats going on?