Lipoma

How Chinese medicine differentiates lipoma (soft fatty lumps under the skin) — distinct from Cysts and Ganglion Cyst already covered — the four patterns you'll actually meet in practice, and the points for each. 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. A lump that grows quickly, is painful, hard, or fixed to underlying tissue needs medical evaluation to rule out something other than a simple lipoma before assuming a simple pattern.

General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for lipoma — 10 key points, used across the patterns below rather than tied to just one.

Point	Key action
ST-40	Resolves Dampness and Phlegm.
SP-9	Regulates the Spleen. Resolves Dampness.
ST-36	Tonifies Qi and Blood. Tonifies the Stomach and Spleen.
REN-12	Tonifies the Stomach and strengthens the Spleen.
SP-6	Tonifies the Spleen and resolves Dampness.
LR-3	Soothes Liver-Qi stagnation, promotes Blood flow.
SP-10	Invigorates Blood, removes stagnation.
L.I.-4	Promotes overall Qi circulation, moves stagnation.
DU-14	Clears Heat, resolves toxin, reduces fever.
L.I.-11	Clears Heat. Cools the Blood.

The Four Patterns

↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.

1. Damp-Phlegm

Clinical manifestations: Soft, painless, movable lumps under the skin, heaviness in body and limbs, poor appetite with bloating and nausea, loose or unformed stools, foggy thinking.

Tongue: Pale and swollen with tooth marks, thick white greasy coating. Pulse: Slippery, soft or soggy at the right middle position.

Treatment principle: Dry Dampness and transform Phlegm, regulate Qi and harmonize the middle burner.

ST-40 ↓ SP-9 ↓ ST-36 ↑ REN-12 ⊥

Note: moxa applicable on ST-36. This site has no organ-nonspecific Phlegm slide, a gap confirmed absent many times over — no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.

2. Spleen Deficiency With Dampness

Clinical manifestations: Loose or unformed stools, abdominal bloating after eating, heaviness in body and limbs, poor appetite, sticky or greasy mouth sensation, soft painless movable lumps.

Tongue: Pale, swollen with teeth marks and white greasy coating. Pulse: Soggy and slow, possibly slippery.

Treatment principle: Tonify Qi and strengthen the Spleen while draining Dampness.

ST-36 ↑ SP-9 ↓ SP-6 ↑ ST-40 ↓

Note: moxa applicable on the tonifying points. This site has no combined Spleen-deficiency-with-Dampness slide (same gap noted for Cirrhosis in batch 40), so no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.

3. Qi and Blood Stagnation View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Firm, fixed lump under the skin, tenderness or stabbing pain when pressed, irritability, worsens with emotional stress.

Tongue: Dark or purple with stasis spots. Pulse: Wiry and choppy.

Treatment principle: Invigorate Blood and dispel stasis, nourish Blood.

LR-3 ↓ SP-10 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓

Note: no moxa. Direct match with this site's own Liver-Blood-stasis slide via the well-established stasis-spot-tongue marker.

4. Toxic-Heat Stagnation

Clinical manifestations: Red, hot, swollen lump that is tender or throbbing, fever or persistent intense heat, intense thirst with desire for cold drinks, irritability, possible pus formation.

Tongue: Deep red or crimson with prickly papillae, thick dry yellow coating. Pulse: Rapid and forceful, possibly overflowing.

Treatment principle: Clear Heat and resolve toxicity, disperse swelling and dissipate nodules.

DU-14 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ SP-10 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓

Note: no moxa — inflamed/infected presentation, uncommon for a true lipoma and worth a medical check. This site has no standalone Toxic-Heat slide, so no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.

Related conditions

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