03/13/2021
My classmate Doug, who does both acupuncture and ink, explaining about the Daith piercing vs. places in the ear that acupuncturists actually use for migraines.
As a licensed acupuncturist who also does tattoos I get the question a lot about another kind of body mod: Piercings. And the one that comes up a lot is "what about the piercing for headaches?" So here's the deal from my perspective:
What they are asking about is the daith piercing located in the second picture. From an acupuncture point of view these points generally have nothing to do with headaches and are mostly used from stomach and digestive issues.
I've spoken to a lot of people who have gotten the daith piercing for headaches or migraines and results seem inconsistent. Some it had no effect, some it actually made things worse, some it helps for a period of time, often a few months while it's healing then headaches come back, and some people it legitimately helps long term. So if it's not a headache point why would it help out at all, and why wouldn't it help more consistently?
As you can also see from the picture on the right the daith piercing is in the area marked as being affected by the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. It is also the only easily piercable area that is.
The vagus nerve also runs from the brain down to all of the major internal organs of the body to keep them functioning and doing their thing. It also has a big influence on blood pressure with the dilation and contraction of blood vessels. Ever fainted after something happens? This is most likely what's known as vasovagal (or neurocardiogenic) syncope and is usually caused by a quick dilation of the blood vessels that pulls blood away from the brain and into the legs causing blood pressure to suddenly drop.
what's the daith piercing probably doing then? After a piercing and during the heal out process that area of the body becomes irritated and inflamed. Even if the inflammation isn't enough to be visible anymore as it heals out. This irritation creates a signal along the vagus nerve that can cause a local shift in blood flow around the area of the head. Heard of the trick where if you have a migraine to put your feet in warm/hot water and a cold pack on your head? It's doing the same thing: the hot water increases blood flow into your legs while the cold pack moves blood away from your head. Migraines often result from enlarged or dilated blood vessels around the area if the head and many medications are aimed at causing constriction of the blood vessels (vasoconstriction).
So the daith piercing may be stimulating the vagus nerve and causing what's called a generalized vasovagal response. Neuroligically this makes sense. From an acupuncturists perspective I basically see this as sloppy, nonspecific auriculotherapy (a term used for treatment of ear points for various health concerns). I'm all for anything that helps someone but in my work sometimes a matter of a millimeter can make a significant difference in the level of benefit someone receives from a treatment.
Is there a point on the ear thats actually specifically indicated for headaches and migraines then? That can vary depending on the cause of the migraine but in many cases a great one can be found toward the top of the lobe in an area known as the antitragus and is shown as the two parallel lines in the tattoo I recently did pictured on the left on someone affected by chronic migraines.
Their one week check in so far:
"Ear update!!!! Okay, first of all, you are my saving Grace. I haven’t had a migraine since I saw you. I’ve only had two headaches try to come on but never developed into a migraine and went away. I haven’t been this free from migraines in a couple years."
More updates to come...
