Information for the public
The procedure
The procedure
The aim of the procedure is to stop the patient blushing so much by cutting off the nerve signals that trigger blushing.
The patient is usually given a general anaesthetic. Small cuts are made in the armpit to open a space between the ribs into the chest then the lung is partly deflated. An endoscope and surgical instruments are inserted into the chest cavity and parts of the nerves responsible for blushing, which lie alongside the spinal column, are either cut or clamped. The instruments are removed, the lung reinflated and the cuts closed. The procedure is then repeated on the other side of the body.