Intersegmental differences in facial warmth sensitivity during rest, passive heat and exercise

Background: Increased facial warmth sensations could lead to thermal discomfort, and different facial regions may demonstrate concurrent temperature differences. The study aim was examining facial warmth sensitivity differences by facial region under differing environmental conditions. Methods: Twelve men had heat flux measurements of six facial regions during 30 min each of rest in thermoneutral conditions (25 °C, 30% relative humidity (RH)), rest in warm conditions (40 °C, 30% RH), and cycling at 400 W of metabolic heat production (40 °C, 30% RH). Results: The forehead demonstrated highest temperatures at termination of all study conditions; lowest temperatures were noted for the nose under thermoneutral conditions and chin during warmth and exercise conditions. Five of six facial regions demonstrated significant differences in warmth sensitivity, decreasing to two of six regions during warm conditions and one of six regions during exercise, with the upper lip most sensitive in all conditions. Body thermal comfort (TC) perceptions, regressed individually on mean facial temperature (T_face) vs. core temperature (T_co), indicated that T_face was significantly more related than T_co to perceived TC (p = .001). Perceived TC, regressed individually on perceived overall body thermal sensation (TS) vs. facial TS, demonstrated that T_face was significantly more related to perceived TC (p = .004). Conclusion: There were regional differences in facial warmth sensitivity together with different facial temperatures moving toward equilibration when the body is subjected to heat-producing activities. Perceptions of TC were more strongly related to T_face than to T_co or overall body TS.