Question 1

Why do you blush in your face and ears but not your hands?

Accepted Answer

The veins in your face and ears carry beta-adrenoceptors that dilate when adrenaline arrives, opening the vessels and flooding the skin with blood. Most veins elsewhere in the body constrict under the same signal, which is why your hands, wrists, and shins stay pale during embarrassment.

Question 2

Is blushing caused by thin skin on the cheeks?

Accepted Answer

No. Thin skin appears in many places, including the wrists and inner elbows, yet those areas never redden with embarrassment. Blushing is caused by unusual facial veins wired to open in response to adrenaline, not by how thin the overlying skin is.

Question 3

Do animals blush like humans?

Accepted Answer

No. Charles Darwin called blushing the most peculiar and most human of all expressions, and no other animal is known to redden the face from embarrassment. Dogs, apes, and chimpanzees display many emotions but do not blush the way humans do.

darwin

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