Couperose

It begins with a redness that will not leave. First on the cheeks, then on the nose, sometimes spreading to the forehead. The fine vessels beneath the skin dilate — and stay dilated. Where others flush briefly after a glass of wine or a cold gust of wind and then return to pale, in you the colour stays. Visible. Permanent. As though your face has decided to reveal something you would rather have kept hidden.

Dermatology explains couperose as vascular dilation, favoured by genetic predisposition, sun exposure, temperature fluctuations, and alcohol. All of that is true — on the physical level. But BodySignal asks further: What is showing itself when your face does not stop signalling? When the surface makes visible what is working beneath the surface? Your body flushes where you are most exposed to the world — in your face. In what makes you recognizable.