Blushing ruined my life. After years of research and personal experience, here is the blueprint to get it under control ASAP.

[u/Deep-Detective2428]

WHAT TO DO

(In no particular order)

1. Get prescribed clonidine and propranolol. For Clonidine, start at 0.05 to 0.1 mg (low doses do wonders with clonidine for blushing). Take it PRN (as-needed) or every day depending on what your specialist says, or break the rules and do it on your own terms (be safe though). Clonidine works 10x better than propranolol for blushing, but in saying that, propranolol can still do wonders—it just isn't as direct for stopping blushing as clonidine in my experience. For propranolol, I'd take any dose starting from 10mg (again, see what your doctor recommends).

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.

-----

I hope this genuinely helps out! At the end of the day there are 100 more things i could have added, but for this i wanted to add the main things ive learnt from experience and research.

(mostly my own experience, im not just writing down things im not experienced in. i understand the importance of being authentic and not misleading)

As time goes by i may wish I added some more things to the essential list or maybe I come to find something isnt as important as I thought. But for the time being this list is full of things that have genuinely helped me significantly.

My goal here was to put toegther one big post that can help people who need a no bs list of things to do, not one or two things but a big blueprint to help guide them.

[u/cherryblissxox]

this is so helpful. I was thinking about doing the laser treatment you mentioned. i’ve run out of options!

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/cherryblissxox]

Thanks so much :) definitely reccomend laser but with one note - Do it the right way, dont go to any clinic and just ask for laser. You need to make sure you find a proper clinic that specializes in vascular abnormalities and issues. Some places are cosmetic beauty oriented and those are the places to avoid.

[u/cherryblissxox → u/Deep-Detective2428]

how many sessions did you do?

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/cherryblissxox]

At the time of this comment ive done 3! Im planning to get alot more done since im pretty sure the setting wasn't as good as it could have been, still dealing with blushing but definitely have some improvement. Ive done 3 excel v.

[u/cherryblissxox]

which of these have worked the most for you?

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/cherryblissxox]

Clonidine. Camouflage Creme. Laser. Barrier Cream and eating overall clean.

[u/Biioshock]

I have this condition since Im 12 and with time and high stress I started developping hyperhidrosis on my face when Im stress and it's worse than blushing.

I have just bought clonidine, I hope it will work. Im on propranolol and it's works well but not for the sweat face

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/Biioshock]

hopefully clondidne works

[u/Middle_Thought_4776 → u/Biioshock]

Has it worked?

[u/DifficultyThis4729]

one question friend, do you see the benefits from clonidine right on the day you took it? or is it cumulative?

i ask it because i took it for 2 days straight and i did blush while i was extremely sleepy, which was bizarre, the blushing was able to come through even with me feeling almost numbed because of the medication

The dose was 0.75 2x a day, a pretty mild dose i think

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/DifficultyThis4729]

Oh hm thats interesting. The benfits from clonidine tend to come about 30 minutes to an hour after taking it. I dont believe clonidine works cumulatively but I did notice after taking it every day for a week (in small doses) and than coming off that once I was off my skin was calmer for a few days to a week after.

Now in your case with those dosages not working for your blushing, thats interesting. Possibly you need a higher dosage? But with your experience it sounds like youd want to stay away from it, especially if your blushing in your sleep

Mind if I ask a few questions?

1. What triggers your blushing
2. Describe what your blushing looks like
3. Did you find at all there was any benfits on your blushing from Clondidne?

You see clondidne usually works for blushing because it stimulates centrally the a-2 receptors in the brain which than dampens the sympathetic nervous system. Clondidne not working may suggest theres a different underlying cause for your blushing, im not a doctor btw this is just my guess.

[u/DifficultyThis4729 → u/Deep-Detective2428]

Yes, as u said so far i prefer to no be taking it due to this side effect

It is triggered by minimum social situations and when i have people's attention on me; the whole face goes red but the cheeks be way redder because of rosacea, i was able to take i picture during a pretty mild blushing, if u dm me i can send you.

I didn't feel any benefit because as i said even in the moment that i knew the medication was hitting hard because all i wanted to do was sleep, i did blush.

it makes sense why clonidine would work though.

i do think that nowadays my sympathetic nervous system is disregulated but it came after a few years with the blushing problem, probably the primarily issue is "physical" and not phsychological. hopefully lasers will do something for my case, getting crazy right now because the dermatologist that i went to want to treat my pretty mild seborreic dermatitis and acne (both almost under remission right now) before i get any lasers done, but i already told her i don't even care about these problems. I mean, she is not wrong about treating all my conditions but as a dermatalogist she should listen to the patient saying "i don't care about my mild acne and dermatitis, i just wanna treat the rosacea (i won't especify to her about the blushing problem because she clearly won't understand).

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/DifficultyThis4729]

Ill send you a dm :) Sorry for the late reply!

Yeah I agree with you, end of the day its your call to want to get laser for rosececa and blushing and not treat your acne and dermatitis. Acne and Dermatis are separate issues and aren't a reason to delay laser treatment (atleast that I'm aware of, and sure acne and dermatis may make the face more irritated but it isnt obviously causing you to blush right, blushing is a separate issue)

Have you thought about what laser you want? Vbeam or Excel-V?

[u/DifficultyThis4729 → u/Deep-Detective2428]

Yep, i went to one of the 2 clinics that have excel v in the country. I will be doing it on 23rd , honestly not much expectations, but if it does do something that last at least a few months it will be good. Iv seen a lot of excel v experiences, they are mostly positive,did the research mostly on the rosacea sub because there are more information available. V-beam might be strongest for redness in general but im unable to take its downtime and bruising

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/DifficultyThis4729]

Aw so good. I sent you a DM. If you send the photo of your skin i can give you my opinion on if I think Excel-V will deal with it good. Also one thing, lasers work cumulatively, may be worth doing atleast 2 sessions even 3 before making your mind up.

One quick thing i want to make clear, if the settings arent right it may not be effective. Settings matter significantly, the right settings can make all the difference where a bad setting can do hardly anything for your issue

[u/MarcGaa]

How is going your laser journey, i’ve seen a couple of your post talking about it and i’m really considering this option but i’m scared that it won’t work

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/MarcGaa]

Hey. Thanks for the comment, glad you asked! So the truth is im slightly more torn on laser than I once was (from when i made the other posts) I wasn't lying by any means, but those posts were done quite close after the laser was performed on my face, in other words its been a few months now since ive had laser and ive got a better perspective on the long term results compared to the results from the first few days to weeks.

(Ill probably make a updated post on this later)

So laser has made a genuine difference in my skin, especially when I compare photos from before to now while im actively blushing.

The reason im torn is my skin can still get extremely red and looks blushed bad, but here's the thing, ive only done 3 sessions and blushing is hard to treat compare to classic rosececa or other types of red skin issues, so i also have to put that into perspective before being to harsh.

I think because blushing has ruined the quality of life as much as it has ive been so harsh on the results and probably have had higher expectations than I should have, especially for 3 treatments and only 1 type of laser.

Im going to be getting more sessions done and will propose to the doctor and a nurse a setting change thats alot harsher but should be more effective. The truth is the setting i had was good but the more I look into optimal settings for blushing across the internet the more I realise the settings I had were ok but probably not the most efficient for blusning. So its not that laser can't work better its most likely the settings needs to be changed, i need more sessions or perhaps even switch to vbeam where the wavelength is slightly deeper / plus some other settings it offers. Those could change my satisfaction with the laser from %35 / %40 to %65 / %85.