is that a hickey?

June 15, 2007 7:23 PM

So, I've got this red splotch on my chest. I've only had it since a sunburn last year, and it gets redder if I'm flushed.

The sunburn I got last summer wasn't even that bad (I know that sunburns are bad regardless, but it wasn't to the point of blistering or peeling), and if I'm not flushed, its hardly noticeable, if at all. As soon as my face starts getting remotely flushed, this splotch makes its appearance. It's a very specific spot and shape, so its not like post-hot-shower kind of random splotching.

So. What gives?

posted by lisawin to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Have you gone to a dermatologist? That would be a good first step, I'd think. I think that depending on how fair skinned you are, a sunburn can definitely leave a permanent mark of some kind, even if it was a relatively mild one. Then again, it could be unrelated. I'd say check with your local dermatologist and see what s/he thinks.

Nice "wtf" tag btw.
posted by sneakin at 7:36 PM on June 15, 2007

Do you flush a lot? Do any other areas of your skin stay red after flushing? Does the chest mark look solid or does it look like tiny capillaries?

It might be rosacea, which can appear on the chest as well as the face, and I got a similar permanent red mark after a sunburn one year. If your dermatologist confirms it's rosacea, and if it really, really bothers you, you can get laser treatment to help it fade.
posted by maudlin at 7:56 PM on June 15, 2007

I had a similar thing on the tops of my feet after wearing sandals all vacation. It hung around for a year or two and then disappeared all by itself.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:01 PM on June 15, 2007

i have something similar left over from a bad sunburn seven years ago. a patch of sunscreen somehow got rubbed off my arm unbeknownst to me (until it burned and the rest of me didn't).

it's not red anymore--i just get a lot of faint, blotchy freckles there.
posted by thinkingwoman at 9:37 PM on June 15, 2007

I know someone who gets red , sharply margined blotches down the front and back. It has a name involving "chromic", I think. It's a fungus that everyone else is immune to, but not him. He got Nizoral when it first came out, then every spring for a couple of years, and now has not had in many years.
It does not come and go with flushing though: it's present all the time. It gets worse with flushing.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 3:59 PM on June 16, 2007

The complete opposite but where my Strawberry Birthmark once was now becomes clearly visible after sunburn or a hot shower as it remains snowy white. (But always has a few little capillaries to indicate the area).
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 6:14 AM on June 18, 2007