Paronychia

How Chinese medicine differentiates paronychia, the three patterns you'll actually meet in practice, and the points for each. Acupuncture only — no herbs; local needling near the infected nail is avoided to prevent ascending infection.

This page is educational, for practitioners and students — it is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace a proper in-person assessment. A paronychia with spreading redness, pus that won't drain, or fever needs medical evaluation and often incision/drainage — acupuncture here uses only distal points and is supportive, not a substitute for that care.

General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for paronychia — 6 key points, used across the patterns below rather than tied to just one, all distal (never local to the infected nail).

Point	Key action
L.I.-4	Expels exterior Wind, clears heat, relieves hand pain.
L.I.-11	Clears Heat, cools the Blood.
DU-14	Clears Wind-Heat, releases the exterior.
SP-9	Regulates the Spleen, resolves Dampness.
SP-10	Cools the Blood, invigorates Blood and removes stagnation.
SP-6	Tonifies Spleen and Stomach, harmonizes Blood and moves stasis.

The Three Patterns

↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.

1. Toxic-Heat Stagnation

Clinical manifestations: Bright redness and swelling around the nail with a hard pus-head, intense local heat and throbbing pain, fever, intense thirst, and dark scanty urine, rapid onset after minor injury.

Tongue: Deep red body with thick, dry yellow coating, may show prickly papillae. Pulse: Rapid and forceful, often overflowing.

Treatment principle: Drain Fire, resolve toxicity, clear Heat from the Three Burners.

L.I.-4 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ DU-14 ↓

Note: no moxa. No standalone Toxic-Heat slide exists on this site, so no pattern link is given here.

2. Damp-Heat

Clinical manifestations: Boggy, heavy-feeling swelling rather than tight, dry redness; weeping or oozing of fluid; general body heaviness and sluggishness; sticky, greasy taste in mouth; worse in humid weather.

Tongue: Red body with thick, yellow, greasy coating. Pulse: Slippery and rapid.

Treatment principle: Clear Heat and resolve toxicity while drying Dampness and draining the swelling.

SP-9 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓

Note: no moxa. This picture isn't tied to the genital/Lower-Burner presentation this site's Damp-Heat pattern decks are built around, so no pattern link is forced here.

3. Blood Stagnation with Heat View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Dark purplish-red swelling around the nail, stabbing, fixed pain worse at night and with pressure, recurrent or stubborn infection that fails to fully clear, sensation of internal heat especially in evenings.

Tongue: Reddish-purple body with stasis spots or patches, distended sublingual veins, thin dry yellow coat. Pulse: Choppy and rapid, often wiry at left Guan.

Treatment principle: Invigorate blood and dispel stasis while cooling the blood.

SP-10 ↓ SP-6 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓

Note: no moxa. Matches this site's Liver-Blood stasis slide — dark purplish-red discoloration and a stasis-spot tongue are the same core markers named there, with Heat added on top.

Related conditions

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