Fluorescent lighting

[Lycaon]

Is it just me, or does fluorescent lighting induce a flush in other people. Im not sure if its an actual flush caused by the lights in some form, or wether its a psychological flush from feeling that your red skin is more obvious

[tryingtogetoverit]

Im not sure if its an actual flush caused by the lights in some form, or wether its a psychological flush from feeling that your red skin is more obvious

Great question! One I've been wondering about, too.
I think it's a little bit of both, in my case. My skin looks and "feels" worse when I'm in that type of lighting, and since the redness is much more obvious, it probably makes me get nervous/anxious about it and makes my skin even redder. I don't really mind the look of my skin when I'm home...the lighting is better...whenever I'm in public and take a glance at myself I freak myself out thinking "Is it really this bad!?"

Fluorescent lighting should be banned if only because it isn't flattering no matter what lol

[AmandainAtlanta]

Hi folks-

I too have the same problem with fluorescent lights. I have been wearing pinkish tinted glasses (no prescription) indoors for about a month now. Seems to have helped some. My opthalmologist said yellow tinted lenses would be best to try.

Here is an awesome post from Dr. Nase on the topic:

Hello Group,

Very intriguing subject. Yes, fluorescent lighting is a very common
trigger for rosacea flares. However, if you ask a dermatologist or
rosacea specialist about this trigger, they will say they never
heard of it and dismiss it off the cuff. The derms just don't
understand triggers like these. During my doctoral work my lab and
office was stacked with fluorescent lighting. After complaining
about this trigger to 25 to 30 dermatologists and getting the blow
off, I finally did some research and found out that the best doctor
to talk to was a highly specialized eye doctor called a neuro-
opthalmologist,

I set up a time to interview the doctor and he immediately knew what
I was talking about. Fluorescent lighting has some properties in it
that when it penetrates the eye and is transduced back through the
optic nerve, it excites the visual cortex of the brain (normal
action), but also alters the production of two chemicals in the
anterior hypothalamus – norepinephrine and gabba (not normal).

These chemicals then stimulate dilatory nerve fibers to the face
and also releases cortisol, a dilatory hormone; hence rosacea
flushing. In the normal population fluorescent lighting is a common
trigger for migraines and cluster headaches because of the changes
caused to norepinephrine and gabba (blood brain vessels dilate, but
they don't flush because they don't have rosacea). So, fluorescent
lighting does not induce a rosacea trigger via direct interaction
with facial skin, but is in fact a visual cortex processing affect.

During my doctoral work, studying in the lab 10 to 12 hours a day
was killing my rosacea. So, I have some suggestions that worked
quite well for me during that time period:

1. If you can, remove all the fluorescent light bulbs overhead your
work area and replace them with normal light bulbs (which do not
change those two brain chemicals). I did this in my office and it
was wonderful.

2. If you cant do the above, remove every other fluorescent light
bulb to decrease the total light penetrating the eye. I did this in
my lab and it made a difference.

3. If you cant do any of the above, order a pair of non-corrective
glasses with various shading that are specially made for indoors.
This works and is highly recommended by the neuro-opthalmologist
for his patients that get migraines or headaches from fluorescent
lighting but cannot remove the light system. Be sure to order the
shaded glasses that are designed for indoor lighting as they don't
interfere with vision and in fact usually brighten/sharpen the
contrast of indoor material due to multiple mechanisms.

The real take home story is that I don't think a single
dermatologist or rosacea specialist has ever heard of this trigger
or immediately dismisses it. This is a real trigger. This is a
common trigger. This reaction is a physiological one (not a
psychological one) that is caused by the simple excitation of two
chemicals in the anterior hypothalamus.

Hope that helps some.

Regards,

Geoffrey
______________________________

Dr. Geoffrey Nase
Ph.D. Neurovascular Physiologist
http://www.drnase

[tryingtogetoverit]

That is very interesting and helpful. Thanks for posting that.

(Off topic, but I can't stop saying how glad I am to have found this forum, I'm learning so much! It's so great to get a better understanding of all of this stuff!)

Orion

[Ghost]

I'm not surprised that the neuro-opthalmologist knew the connection between fluorescent light and rosacea. My simple story is that while none of my derms ever used the "R" word to identify my conditon, an opthalmologist did noting my variety of dry eye and saying that it's common to people with rosacea. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Ghost

[tryingtogetoverit]

I went to a few opthalmologists today...only one knew the rosacea aspect but they all knew about the headaches and sensitivities from fluorescent lighting.

They showed me the lenses they use...very light rose/pink color. If you set the lense down on a white surface, you could see a faint (very faint) rose color, but otherwise it was invisible.
They also said they could use an anti-glare coating if I was REALLY dead set against pink. I asked if I got both if it would provide cumulative benefits but they couldn't say for certain. One of them said yes, but what affect it had on my rosacea she didn't say.
The same opthalmologist said she prefered a peach/yellow shade, although the pink is fine too. I'm just wondering how effective this would be at reducing irritation on the actual eye?

I'm going to pick out some frames and get the lenses...I'm going to ask my derm first, but it's unlikely he'll be able to tell me which shade would be best.

Orion

[AmandainAtlanta]

I went with the pink lenses too. My eyes definitely bother me a lot less with them. I also asked at Lenscrafters about getting anti-glare coating, but they said you could not do both. Not sure why. The guy at Lenscrafters said the fluorescent lights bother him and he just has the coating. (But I don't think rosacea).

My opthalmologist said yellow lenses too. Just see what works best for you!
Amanda

[Tamara]

Hello Amanda,

Glad to hear your glasses are helping your eyes. Have they protected your face from flushing under the florescent lights as well?

Tamara

[ledbetteroregon]

yeah florescent lighting is probably my in my Top 5 flushing tiggers, along with hot rooms, sunlight and stress. The worst feeling in the world is when you are in a small room like an office and the whole entire ceiling is full of those damn florescent lights. And to top it off, the temperture in the room is hotter than hell. That is the ultimate trigger for me.

[1monkey2]

Hi,

Funny...just yesterday a few of us at work were talking about how much the fluorescent lighting in the building bother our eyes.
I was the only one who had problems with the lights causing burning and flushing of the face and neck.
But, the one thing I did notice is that all of us had a red, yucky looking face cause by the lighting. And I'm the only one with rosacea in the building.

Thanks for the tip on the glasses this should really help and since all of us dislike the lights we are getting a lot of them removed.

One question....does anyone have problem with burning sensations/flushing from using your computer? I think the screen is causing me some problems....anyone else?

Thanks,
Sharon

[ledbetteroregon]

1monkey2-

yes i get the nasty flushing from computers too! i posted about this on the ESFB forum before, but most people thought it was the stress or whatever from typing and looking at the computer. But i think there is more too it. Its gotta be the light or whatever that is coming out of the screen. I get this flushing every time i use my computer. There has to be more to it.

[tryingtogetoverit]

But, the one thing I did notice is that all of us had a red, yucky looking face cause by the lighting.

Fluorescent lighting is universally unflattering. lol
People who have skin that looks great in this kind of lighting have absolutely amazing skin with very few flaws if any...

For me, the computer doesn't cause problems. It might be straining your eyes and that isn't helping...but I don't flush/burn in front of a computer. At least at home...if fluorescent lighting was also present, I'm sure I would.
All opthamologists said the same type of lenses would help eye strain for computer users too, though.

Orion

[granola grrrl]

Hi Guys,
Well, I am completely and totally BLINDED by the flourescent light across from my desk at work. I had the two on either side of me turned off, but the one across from me (above my neighbour's desk which I obviously can't turn out) beams down into my eyes all day and literally blinds me. I cannot hardly see my screen. And all I see are white dots in my visual field from the strain.

A year ago I went to an Irlen diagnositician http://www.irleninstitute.com/
for a colour diagnosis as to what tint I should get my lenses. I told the diagnostician what I wanted them for (flourescent lighting and computers). She did all these tests and said I needed a blue tint. So I paid $700 dollars for the lenses. I thought they would have an anti-reflective coating on them as well, but they do not for technical reasons put on that coating. Bottom line is the glasses DO NOT WORK. AND without the antireflective coating I see all these reflections in my visual field which only adds to the eyestrain. Needless to say a waste of $700!!!!! Like I could afford that with all the $$$ I spend to control my rosacea!

So after reading all your posts, I am confused about this lack of Anti-Glare coating on the glasses for flourescent lights (I assume that is the same as anti-reflective?). Can anyone clarify for me?

Also what I gather is the standard tints recommended are light pink or yellow??? How do people find them aesthetically?

I have to admit my Lenscrafers Polarized sunglasses are awesome for cutting out glare but anyone who has them knows that you can't look at digital screens/displays with them on (massive distortion or blanking out).

Shelley :shock:

[AmandainAtlanta]

Hi Shelley-

I (think) anti-reflective and anti-glare coating are one in the same.

Based on Dr. Nase's post the chemicals released which cause a flush are the same ones released by a migraine sufferer... they don't turn red since they don't have the whacky vessels. I found information online about migraine sufferers getting the most relief from pink tinted lenses. I only found one study out there that talked about it. Hence I went with pink.

After the fact I saw my opthalmologist and she said yellow would be best for indoor fluorescent lighting. I have a picture of me wearing them- if anyone want to see shoot me an email and I will send it to you.

My flushing is less. But I cannot attribute it completely to the glasses. I was tired of everyone stopping me asking me if I was sick. My eyes were always bloodshot and nasty. So if nothing else the tinted lenses make that less noticeable, hence I don't get worked up and flush because of it. (such a mental game!)

My clonidine, and inderal help some.

At night and over the weekend my eyes are perfectly normal. They just look bad throughout the week ay work.

I don't flush from computer screens, but there are other posters on the yahoo rosacea board who complained of their computers making them flush too.

Whew. I bet what I wrote was clear as mud- but I hope I answered some of your questions!

Amanda

[Strive]

I seem to get pretty flushed when I'm in front of my screen, as well, especially if the rest of the room is dark when I'm working on my computer. I've been wondering about it for some time, and remember being interested to see ledbetteroregon with the same question.

Part of it for me could be the increase in concentration, which definitely brings on a flush--no matter the kind of lighting. Or perhaps it's because there's also a slight amount of heat emitted from the screen. The heat from my cellphone appears to have an effect, so maybe that's part of the equation. It feels better when I back away from the screen.