I don't feel good, but I look good (was: silicone barrier creme)

July 13, 2002

staceyiseman@... wrote:

p.s. after getting my tonsils out a couple days ago

being on anti biotics

having a fever of 99.4 everyday

not eating

and

sucking on ice chips

my skin has never looked better

anyone?

------------------------------------------

Last week I had an awful 24-hour stomach flu:

high fever, couldn't eat a thing (nothing but water & apple juice),

dizzy every time I tried to get out of bed, not to mention the body's

unpleasant methods of purging itself... yuck!

But... for two days afterwards my face was baby-soft, smooth, pale,

not a single flake or bump. It was truly amazing... my skin hasn't been

that " normal " in years. The getting sick part was no fun, but it was

encouraging to see how quickly and thoroughly my skin can abandon this

rosacea business when it wants to!

Shirley

---------------------------------

July 13, 2002

staceyiseman@... wrote:

p.s. after getting my tonsils out a couple days ago

being on anti biotics

having a fever of 99.4 everyday

not eating

and

sucking on ice chips

my skin has never looked better

anyone?

------------------------------------------

Last week I had an awful 24-hour stomach flu:

high fever, couldn't eat a thing (nothing but water & apple juice),

dizzy every time I tried to get out of bed, not to mention the body's

unpleasant methods of purging itself... yuck!

But... for two days afterwards my face was baby-soft, smooth, pale,

not a single flake or bump. It was truly amazing... my skin hasn't been

that " normal " in years. The getting sick part was no fun, but it was

encouraging to see how quickly and thoroughly my skin can abandon this

rosacea business when it wants to!

Shirley

---------------------------------

July 14, 2002

<<After all, if papules can

appear so quickly with a flush, perhaps they can disappear as quickly

with an anti-flush?

>>

ah yes,

i am the

anti-flush.

(sounds evil. somewhere in the nabe of

anti-christ, don't it?)

despite the fact that my

blood pressure

was sky high

after the tonsillectomy

my face was

whiter

than the sheets against which i lay.

perhaps the opiates?

so, let's all become morphine addicts.

we'll all be pale,

smooth skin

and so desperately poetic looking ....

July 14, 2002

<<After all, if papules can

appear so quickly with a flush, perhaps they can disappear as quickly

with an anti-flush?

>>

ah yes,

i am the

anti-flush.

(sounds evil. somewhere in the nabe of

anti-christ, don't it?)

despite the fact that my

blood pressure

was sky high

after the tonsillectomy

my face was

whiter

than the sheets against which i lay.

perhaps the opiates?

so, let's all become morphine addicts.

we'll all be pale,

smooth skin

and so desperately poetic looking ....

July 14, 2002

, Stacey, Shirley and everyone else who made the observation

that while they may feel their worst, they look (as Billy Crystal

might say) maaavolous. <g> I think this is a fascinating observation.

We know for a fact that viral syndromes and physiologic reaction from

a severe cuts are accompanied by systemic vasodilation which

resulting in low blood pressure, which evokes a compensatory

vasoconstriction that draws blood away from other important places to

the central organs where blood flow needs to be preserved. The pale

face and lightheadedness are explained by these mechanisms. I

hypothesize that the pale face representing this central face

vasoconstriction is in fact an anti-flare that not only takes away

the blush/flush of rosacea, but also decreases the papules and other

reversible stigmata.

In support of this, let me tell you all about an interesting

experience last week: I ate a very spicy meal, the spiciest I ever

had, so spicy that my eyes teared and my nose ran. I suspected those

reactions were the result of central face vasodilation, so although

my face felt cool I slipped into the bathroom to check out my face.

(always the physician, and always the rosacean <g>)

My face was bright red, but what really surprised me was the sudden

emergence of papules across both cheeks. This was a clear rosacea

flare, not just a flush, and I knew the papules was all the result of

increased blood flow to the face.

(As an aside, does anyone know the mechanism behind why spicy food

causes flushing?)

Anyway, my flush dissipated within several hours, but the bumps

remained. (It's hard to know exactly why, since I was also pre-

menstrual.) But one fact remains: before the meal my face was

virtually bump-free, and it was the sudden vasodilation of my central

face that resulted in a near-immediate development of an impressive

number of papules.

So maybe...maybe we can interprete 's and Stacey's and Shirley's

experiences as an anti-flare and understand them in relation to

significant decreased blood flow to the face (a normal compensatory

reaction to direct systemic vasodilation, whether caused by a virus

or vasovagal reaction to a severe cut). After all, if papules can

appear so quickly with a flush, perhaps they can disappear as quickly

with an anti-flush?

Marjorie

Marjorie Lazoff, MD

> The getting sick part was no fun, but it was

> >

> > encouraging to see how quickly and thoroughly my skin can abandon

this

> >

> > rosacea business when it wants to!

>

> Last December, I slashed my left palm whilst skinning a deer. I

managed to

> cut 6 veins, an I got about 15 stitches altogether (the doc lost

count of

> the internal stitches). When I was leaving the emergency

room/reception,

> the nurse commented, " you were really pale when you came in, but you

seem to

> have regained you color! "

>

> So, I don't know what is normal anymore...

>

> sigh.

>

> Thus I can't recommend a deep cut (or a viral infection) to induce

shock for

> a pale complexion!

>

> - in Michigan

July 14, 2002