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03/02/2026

Face Diagnosis: The Face as Microcosm
Michelle Gellis, AP, Dipl. Ac.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
According to Chinese physiognomy, each area of the face corresponds to a particular organ; any dis-harmony in that organ will affect the complexion, texture or moisture of the corresponding facial area.
The contraction of our muscles (wood), facial complexion color (fire), integrity of the muscles (earth), premature signs of aging (water), and skin quality (metal) also will all show up on our face.
In addition to facial lines are many other diagnostic markers on the face, such as the size and shape of the forehead, chin, eyebrows, and sensory organs.
Our face is an outward manifestation of our inner world. According to the traditional concept of biao li, everything we see on the outside is a representation of what is happening on the inside. The character biao (表) represents the outer appearance of a garment; li (裏) refers to its lining or that which is hidden. The biao faces toward the exterior and can be seen, whereas the li faces toward the interior and cannot be seen.

The confluence of biao and li governs how our inner qualities, such as self-control, kindness and sincerity, manifest on the exterior. The Nei Jing states, “All the Qi and Blood of the meridians pour upwards into the face.”

The Color of the Face

The overall color of the face is governed by two organs: In the Nei Jing Su Wen, chapter 10, the heart is said to flourish in the complexion, but in the Nan Jing 49, the complexion is ascribed to the liver. Changes in the complexion therefore, signal a change in the interior of the body.

According to Chinese physiognomy, each area of the face corresponds to a particular organ; any dis-harmony in that organ will affect the complexion, texture or moisture of the corresponding facial area.1

The Nan Jing states that assessing the colors of the face constitutes one of the pillars of diagnosis, with chapter 61 stating, “Anybody who looks and knows is to be called a spirit” (spirit in this context means highly skilled, proficient). Thus, practitioners who “look and know” can assess the five colors (in a person’s complexion) in order to understand their illness.2

White is associated with the metal element and can be seen over the entire face. It is indicative of cold or a deficiency condition; dull white is more indicative of blood deficiency, while bright white signifies qi or yang deficiency.
Blue is associated with the water element and is primarily seen under the eyes. Dark blue or black is associated with deficient kidneys.
Green corresponds to wood and is typically visible on the temples. It can indicate liver disharmony.
Blue-green indicates qi or blood stagnation.
Black or a dark color points toward kidney deficiency or blood stagnation.
Red is associated with fire and typically flashes up from the neck to the cheeks. A red color on the whole of the face is associated with excess heat; however, a malar flush is a yin deficiency sign.
Yellow corresponds with the earth element and tends to show up around the mouth area; it can mean excess dampness or spleen qi deficiency.
Orange-yellow denotes damp heat.
Facial Color and Emotions or Personality Traits

In five-element acupuncture, these colors are used as pillars of diagnosis in addition to the pulse. Tracking facial color during the consultation can give us insight into a patient’s emotions that they may not convey to us verbally. Flashes of red and green can arise and fade quickly, whereas blue, yellow and white are slower to resolve.

Chinese face reading is the practice of using the features, lines, and shape of the face to gain insight into a person’s past, their current health, how they will age, and even when they may die. It is originally derived from Daoist philosophy, and the oldest Chinese writing on this topic is commonly credited to Guiguzi (Ghost Valley Scholar; 481-221 bc).

These are some of the facial lines that represent different emotions or personality traits:

Joy lines run from the outer canthus of the eye upward.
Sadness lines run from the outer canthus of the eye downward. If these lines run far down the cheek, they represent deep sorrow, perhaps depression.
Skepticism lines run horizontally across the forehead. If they begin over the lateral edge of the eyebrow, they can be indicative of too much fire or mania. Leon Hammer said that each line across the forehead corresponds to a significant trauma/ordeal earlier in life.3
Other Diagnostic Markers

In addition to facial lines are many other diagnostic markers on the face, such as the size and shape of the forehead, chin, eyebrows, and sensory organs. The eyes in particular are used to diagnose the shen/spirit. The eyes of a healthy person are bright and clear, but if the shen is not healthy, they will appear dull and lifeless. Diagnostically, the return of shen in the eyes is what we are looking for when treating such a patient.

Although the eyes transmit the shen, the face displays the jing-shen.4 The bones in particular show the developmental prowess of the kidney jing, while the overall expression is animated by the shen. Pride, shame and isolation show as a hardness to the face. When the heart-shen opens, the facial muscles relax. We can look at a patient’s forehead, temples or jawline and see remnants of facial expressions etched in the stiffening of the collagen and fascia.

Aging and the Face

The way the face ages provides additional information on how to treat our patients. A disharmony of blood, qi or body fluids will affect how the face ages. The contraction of our muscles (wood), facial complexion color (fire), integrity of the muscles (earth), premature signs of aging (water), and skin quality (metal) will all show up on our face.

acupuncture points on face
Aging thus manifests uniquely for each organ system. Here is a summary of some of the highlights:

Fire (Small Intestine, Heart, Pericardium, and Three Heater): Excessive smiling can cause crow’s feet to extend from the outer canthus of the eyes and deep nasolabial folds. Weakened heart function can lead to facial swelling and puffiness. Heart blood deficiency can lead to wrinkles due to dryness. Heart fire can cause facial redness, broken capillaries, and blemishes. Dark eye circles can be indirectly due to a disturbance of the heart’s function of housing the shen, leading to insomnia.

Earth (Stomach and Spleen): The complexion depends on the spleen’s function of transforming food into qi and blood. Nutrient-rich blood (ying) is vital to healthy-looking skin. When spleen qi is deficient, there will be a loss of skin tone and sagging. If the spleen is unable to transport fluids properly, the face will look puffy, and there may be bags under the eyes. Pensiveness affecting the earth qi can cause lines around the lips and at the bridge of the nose.

Metal (Large Intestine and Lung): The Nei Jing states that the lungs are connected to the skin.20 In CM, the skin is often referred to as the “third lung.”5 Any impairment of lung or large-intestine function can lead to dryness, clogged pores, and inelastic or thin skin. When the lung is dysfunctional, wrinkles are typically seen all over the face, especially around the lips (due either to a habitual expression of disdain or smoking, both of which are common in metal constitutions).

Water (Bladder and Kidney): Horizontal lines on the forehead can be due to the expression of raising eyebrows and widening the eyes in fear. Intense or prolonged fear can also cause puckering of the chin and chin wrinkles. This is due to the expression we make when frightened, which involves the depressor labii inferioris and risorius muscles.6 When kidney essence is insufficient, aging is accelerated. Deficient kidney yin can cause dark circles under the eyes. If kidney yang is low, there can be puffiness around the eyes.

Wood (Gallbladder and Liver): Anger causes a furrowed brow due to habitually pulling the eyebrows together. Lines on the sides of the nose can develop from expressions of hostility and rage from lifting the top lip to show the teeth and flaring the nostrils. In some cases, liver qi stagnation can lead to a grayish color on the face due to decreased blood flow. Stasis of liver blood can lead to dark spots on the skin. Liver blood deficiency can lead to dry skin.

References

Kaptchuk TJ. The Web That Has No Weaver. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional 2000.
Unschuld P. Nan Jing. The Classic of Difficult Issues. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016.
Bridges L. Face Reading in Chinese Medicine. St. Louis, MO: Churchill Livingstone, 2004.
Hicks A, Hicks J. Five Element Acupuncture. London: Churchill Livingstone, 2004.
Beinfield H, Korngold E. Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine. New York: Ballantine, 1992.
Gellis M. “The Anatomy of Expression” (webinar).
Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from Michelle’s book, Treating the Face: A Comprehensive Guide for Acupuncturists and Health Professionals, formatted to conform toAcupu

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01/19/2026

When the Pelvis Falls Out of Line

How Segmentopuncture Reveals the Neurophysiology Behind Chronic Postural Imbalance
If you look closely at the image above, you are not just seeing a crooked spine or uneven muscle tone. You are looking at a decision made by the nervous system—a decision to protect, compensate, and adapt, even at the cost of symmetry and comfort.
Pelvic distortion has long been described in terms of posture: tilted hips, a deviated lumbar spine, a “short” leg, tight muscles on one side and weakness on the other. Yet anyone who works clinically with these patients knows a frustrating truth: correcting the posture does not mean correcting the problem. Stretching helps briefly. Manipulation helps briefly. Strengthening sometimes makes it worse.
The reason is simple, but rarely stated clearly: pelvic distortion is not primarily mechanical. It is segmental and reflexive.
Posture Is a Readout of the Nervous System
The body does not hold posture the way a scaffold holds weight. Posture is continuously adjusted by spinal reflexes that integrate joint input, muscle tone, pain signals, and balance information. When a key region—especially the sacroiliac joints or lower lumbar segments—becomes irritated, the nervous system responds instantly.
Certain muscles tighten to stabilize the area. Others are inhibited to reduce strain. This pattern is not random. Postural (tonic) muscles such as the quadratus lumborum, erector spinae, and iliopsoas tend to lock into hypertonicity, while phasic muscles like the gluteals and abdominal wall gradually lose activation.
Over time, the nervous system adapts to this imbalance. What began as protection becomes habit. The distorted posture is no longer perceived as abnormal—it becomes the new reference point.
That is why the image shows asymmetry extending far beyond the pelvis. The entire spine participates. The imbalance propagates upward and downward through muscle chains, producing alternating zones of tension and inhibition.
Why the Distortion Persists
Once established, pelvic distortion is maintained by a closed reflex loop:
1. Irritation at a joint or periosteal level activates nociceptive afferents
2. Segmental spinal circuits increase motor output to stabilizing muscles
3. Antagonistic muscles are reflexively inhibited
4. Altered proprioceptive feedback reinforces the pattern
5. The central nervous system accepts the distortion as “normal”
At this stage, purely mechanical corrections struggle. The nervous system simply restores the old pattern once the intervention stops. This explains why many patients feel “pulled back” into asymmetry within hours or days.
To change posture sustainably, the reflex loop itself must be interrupted.
Segmentopuncture: Treating the Segment, Not the Shape
Segmentopuncture was developed precisely for this purpose. Rather than working at the surface or at isolated muscle bellies, it targets the spinal segment as a functional unit.
Using long, precise needles placed paravertebrally, the technique reaches deep hypercontracted muscles, periosteal interfaces, and segmental neurovascular structures. A controlled electrical current is then applied through the needles.
This combination is critical. Mechanical pe*******on alone is not enough, and electrical stimulation alone lacks specificity. Together, they act directly on the pathological reflex arc.
Clinically, the effect is often striking: muscles that have resisted manual release for months relax within minutes. Asymmetric tone equalizes. The pelvis recenters without force. What appears like a mechanical correction is, in reality, a neurophysiological reset.
The Role of the Periosteum and Deep Reflexes
One often overlooked structure plays a key role here: the periosteum. Richly innervated and deeply connected to segmental reflex circuits, it acts as a powerful interface between structure and nervous system.
Stimulating periosteal zones adjacent to affected segments modulates pain signaling, reduces sympathetic overactivity, and restores local microcirculation. This is not theoretical. Patients frequently report warmth, lightness, or a sense of release spreading beyond the treated area—signs of a systemic response rather than a local one.
Rethinking “Leg Length” and Asymmetry
The image also highlights an important clinical illusion: the so-called functional short leg. In many cases, the bones themselves are equal. What differs is muscle tone and segmental alignment.
When segmental reflex tension is released, the apparent discrepancy often resolves spontaneously. No traction. No aggressive correction. The nervous system simply allows the body to return to balance once it no longer feels threatened.
A Different Way of Seeing Chronic Postural Pain
Segmentopuncture challenges a deeply ingrained assumption in musculoskeletal care: that posture must be forced back into alignment. Instead, it suggests something more subtle—and more respectful of physiology.
Posture improves not because it is corrected, but because the nervous system no longer needs to defend a distortion.
This shift has profound implications for chronic low back pain, pelvic instability, and long-standing postural asymmetries. It explains why some patients improve dramatically after years of failed conservative care, and why lasting change often happens faster than expected.
The image of pelvic distortion is not a picture of something “out of place.” It is a snapshot of a nervous system doing its job too well for too long.
Segmentopuncture works because it speaks directly to that system—at the level where posture is decided, not where it is merely expressed. By addressing the segmental reflex loops that sustain imbalance, it allows the body to choose symmetry again, naturally and without coercion.
In that sense, it is less a technique of correction than one of permission: permission for the nervous system to let go.
Dana Lundin

·

11/03/2025

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-cross-contamination

10/07/2025

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/13/2216?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%29++Magnesium+for+your+Mood%2C+Mind+%26+More&utm_term=new+review+of+43+clinical+trials&utm_content=new+review+of+43+clinical+trials&_kx=lFqcIaaPjK5nwU_qfRDA5ENEG15res5XinlZPwGv7ww.my75y6&fbclid=IwY2xjawNR_WlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFPNGVUeEtXWEVwaVpJNUZOAR77lvvgCW76taRtKRHxSj_u_Ue9aEmDl29onECsUXPCnIJ35ejEcCPjWmoB_w_aem_uesWUhQpwDqNPeTjRGjPlw

Magnesium is an essential mineral involved in hundreds of biochemical reactions, with particular relevance to maintaining neural homeostasis, modulating neurotransmitter systems, and regulating inflammatory and oxidative stress mechanisms. This comprehensive review aims to evaluate the potential rol...

09/29/2025

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09/29/2025

Posted by my associate and dear friend Will Morris living in BC...

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing a transformative overhaul of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) to better support families impacted by vaccine-related injuries.

At a MAHA Institute panel on September 24, 2025, senior adviser Andrew Downing detailed Kennedy’s plan to expand VICP eligibility to include children with autism symptoms or neurological injuries, like regressive encephalopathy, post-vaccination.

This progressive reform seeks to close gaps in the system, delivering timely and fair compensation to families.

Created under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, the VICP has paid out ~$5.4 billion for roughly 11,000 claims, funded by a $0.75 tax per vaccine dose from manufacturers.

Downing emphasized broadening compensable injuries to include conditions like “febrile seizures progressing to neurological injury” or “regressive encephalopathy,” aiming to streamline claims and reduce lengthy litigation in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ Office of Special Masters.

Currently, only anaphylaxis cases qualify for quick payouts, while neurological injury claims often face years of legal battles.

Kennedy’s reform prioritizes faster resolutions for families, aligning with the VICP’s “no-fault” framework that doesn’t require proving manufacturer negligence.

With the VICP trust fund at $4.5 billion, concerns loom about its sustainability if claims surge, as its funding—static at 75 cents per dose since 1988—relies on low-yield bond investments.

Critics, like Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine patent holder who earned millions from his rotavirus vaccine, argue that studies show no link between vaccines and autism, warning that expansion could strain the fund and fuel vaccine hesitancy.

I believe this bold move could push the VICP toward complete bankruptcy, potentially leading to its collapse—and I hope it does, so vaccine manufacturers, not American taxpayers, are finally held liable.

09/24/2025

From a TCM perspective...

09/24/2025

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is becoming increasingly prevalent of late. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) has a significant role in folate metabolism. Owing to the inconsistencies and inconclusiveness on the association between MTHFR single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and A...

09/08/2025

https://meridianharmonics.blogspot.com/2025/09/september-8-2025-yin-wood-rooster-month.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawMrzrtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHpT_0RZicfHuomt1z4Lk7-nxrKdnA-8L9DWNQtvgrv-eIB3_sms5c4YGf8_w_aem_PPKUYinVr8ajpLLgDS10-w

The Chinese calendar marks September 8, 2025, as the beginning of the Yin Wood Rooster month, which is composed of the Yin Wood (Wind) trigr...