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Infected Wound

How Chinese medicine differentiates an infected wound, the three patterns you'll actually meet in practice, and the points for each. Supportive care alongside standard wound care — acupuncture only, no herbs.

This page is educational, for practitioners and students — it is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace a proper in-person assessment. An infected wound needs proper wound cleaning, and often antibiotics, as the primary treatment — acupuncture here is supportive to that care, not a replacement for it. Spreading redness, red streaking, fever, or a wound that isn't improving needs urgent medical evaluation.
General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for an infected wound — 6 key points, used across the patterns below rather than tied to just one.

PointKey action
L.I.-4Clears heat and alleviates pain.
L.I.-11Cools blood and drains heat.
SP-10Invigorates blood and removes stagnation, cools blood.
DU-14Clears heat and resolves toxin, lowers high fever.
ST-36Tonifies Qi and blood, strengthens the Spleen.
SP-6Tonifies the Spleen, nourishes blood.
REN-6Boosts original Qi to enhance healing capacity.
The Three Patterns

↑ reinforcing   ↓ reducing   ⊥ even method.

1. Toxic-Heat Stagnation

Clinical manifestations: Redness, swelling, and heat at the wound site; severe, throbbing pain; possible thick yellow pus formation; high fever with intense thirst for cold drinks; restlessness and irritability.
Tongue: Deep red or crimson body with prickly papillae and a thick, dry yellow coating. Pulse: Rapid and forceful, often overflowing.
Treatment principle: Clear Heat, resolve Toxin, disperse stagnation before it deepens.
L.I.-4 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ SP-10 ↓
Note: no moxa. No standalone Toxic-Heat slide exists on this site, so no pattern link is given here.

2. Toxic-Heat

Clinical manifestations: High fever with chills; redness, swelling, and heat; thick yellow pus; intense thirst for cold drinks; restlessness and irritability; dark, scanty urine; constipation.
Tongue: Red body with prickly thorns and dry yellow coating. Pulse: Rapid and forceful, often full or overflowing.
Treatment principle: Aggressively clear intense Heat and drain pus outward.
L.I.-4 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ DU-14 ↓ SP-10 ↓
Note: no moxa. Same absence as Pattern 1.

3. Qi and Blood Deficiency

Clinical manifestations: Thin, watery pus and slow granulation tissue; pale complexion, lips, and nail beds; persistent fatigue and shortness of breath; poor appetite and spontaneous sweating; dizziness; no significant redness or heat.
Tongue: Pale body, possibly thin with teeth marks and thin white coating. Pulse: Fine and weak.
Treatment principle: Tonify Qi and nourish Blood to rebuild the body's resources for tissue regeneration.
ST-36 ↑ SP-6 ↑ REN-6 ↑
Note: moxa applicable throughout. No deck on this site combines Qi and Blood deficiency into one slide, so no pattern link is given here.
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Acupuncture-only reference — structure adapted (not text) from how other condition-lookup sites organize this kind of content. Let us know what to add or change.