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Facial blood flow oscillation

Experimental data (starting from 1995) have shown that the volume of blood flow in human faces tends to oscillate - rising and falling once every ten seconds or so.

The reasons are unknown. There are currently two theories :

1) That it stems from the blood pressure regulation mechanism

2) That it's caused by 'vasomotion' (contraction and expansion of blood vessels)

See: Phase Velocity of Facial Blood Volume Oscillation at a Frequency of 0.1 Hz Frontiers in Physiology, 28 Jan. 2021

Note : The highly complex mechanism which controls blood pressure is itself poorly understood. See Hypertensionplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigHypertension

Only 5 -10% of cases of hypertension (high blood pressure) have causes which can be clearly identified - e.g. due to narrowing of the arteries. Put another way, of those patients who have been identified as having abnormally high blood pressure, physicians will not be able to pinpoint a specific cause in more than 90% of cases.


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