Sunday, March 02, 2008

The Warm Room Flush: what you wished you always knew

You may have noticed that your face flushes when you enter a warm room, but have you ever thought about how that process actually works ? Well, a nicely written article just released on the web goes into detail about how your body responds when you go from a cold room to a warm room. Colin Dahl, rosacea sufferer himself, from Australian Sciences has created this article to help rosacea sufferers understand the thermoregulatory roots of facial flushing in a simple, easy to read manner. The following couple of paragraphs from Chapter 1 give an accurate description of the contents of the booklet.

A Practical Understanding of Rosacea, Part 1: Heat Regulation and the Warm Room Flush Phenomenon, By Colin Dahl, Chief Scientist, Australian Sciences.

The simplified biological mechanics of rosacea have been explained in the booklet. Minimal medical terms have been used and may be further referenced online. I believe that a basic understanding of how the body deals with heat regulation and dilation of blood vessels is needed if you want to begin reversing this and other forms of facial flushing associated with rosacea.

It is not the intention of this booklet to name or deal with specific chemicals. The reason for this is simple, once you have excessive blood vessels and nerves in your skin, you will have an excess of numerous inflammatory chemicals. It is the intention of this booklet to highlight the systems involved, so that these systems can be used in your favor.

Often we see terms like nerve-mediated vasodilation, cutaneous nerves, angiogenesis (and a new one axonogenesis), sympathetic nerves, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, nerve growth factors etc. thrown around. Finally here is a document that puts them together in context. Whatsmore, it is a pleasure to read.

I like that the document doesn't suggest that IPL is the end-game for treating flushing. See the document for Mr. Dahl's thoughts on how to enhance the effectiveness of IPL therapy.

If you go to the Products section of the web site you will also see that Australian Sciences have products related to rosacea in the development pipeline. From the PDF;

Australian Sciences is developing a range of effective products aimed at assisting in the reduction of excessive skin cell activity due to environmental factors such as sun exposure. Australian Sciences has conducted extensive research into the normalization of inflammatory skin cells with natural compounds such as silymarin, egcg, vitamin B12 and many others. Independent research has also showed these compounds to be effective for other inflammatory skin disorders such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. We believe these products can help normalize skin cells and assist in the long-term reversal of excessive skin infrastructure.

Further benefits can be achieved through reducing the exposure of skin cells to environmental factors. A major contributor to excessive skin cell activity is sunlight. Not only is the ultraviolet radiation a major contributor, but the excessive heat energy delivered to skin cells is enough on its own to cause problems for those with rosacea.

Stay tuned for further information.

Read the document here: Australian Sciences Rosacea Page.

What do you think about this document ? Leave a comment below or discuss it online at the Blushing and Flushing Forum at the Rosacea Support Forum.

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