Rosacea

How Chinese medicine differentiates rosacea, the three 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. Rosacea usually needs dermatological diagnosis and management; acupuncture is a complementary, not a replacement, approach.

General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for rosacea — 8 key points, used across most of the patterns below rather than tied to just one.

Point	Key action
L.I.-20	Expels exterior Wind. Opens the nose. Removes obstructions from the channel.
L.I.-11	Clears Heat from the Yangming channels. Cools Blood.
L.I.-4	Expels exterior Wind, stops pain, removes obstructions from the channel.
ST-36	Benefits Stomach and Spleen, tonifies Qi and Blood.
ST-44	Clears Heat. Regulates the Intestines and resolves Damp-Heat.
Du-14	Clears Heat. Releases the Exterior and expels exterior Wind.
SP-10	Cools Blood, invigorates Blood and eliminates stasis.
LR-3	Subdues Liver-Yang, promotes the smooth flow of Liver-Qi, invigorates Blood.

The Three Patterns

↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method — technique below follows standard Excess/Deficiency treatment principle for each pattern, not tied to a specific point-by-point source. None of this condition's three patterns has a genuine match in the site's pattern decks (checked pattern-by-pattern below) — consistent with the site's established finding that skin-condition patterns rarely find a genuine cross-reference, since deck slides sharing similar Heat/Blood-stasis vocabulary are almost always framed around a different body system.

1. Bright Yang Stomach Heat

Clinical manifestations: Redness and flushing on the nose and cheeks; worse after spicy food, alcohol, or hot coffee; thirst with a desire for cold drinks; a dry mouth and lips; constipation or dry stools; eased by cooling foods and avoiding triggers.

Tongue: Red with a yellow, dry coating, early cracks may appear. Pulse: Overflowing, Surging, Rapid, strongest at the right middle position.

Treatment principle: Drain Stomach-Heat downward through the bowels, clearing the source of the rising Heat that reddens the face.

Clear Heat

L.I.-20 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓ ST-44 ↓

Support Stomach

ST-36 ⊥

Note: no moxa. This site's closest candidate, "Stomach-Heat (or Phlegm-Heat)," is purely epigastric-pain-framed with no facial-flushing or skin content, so no pattern link is given here.

2. Toxic-Heat

Clinical manifestations: Red, inflamed papules and pustules on the nose and cheeks; a burning sensation on the affected skin; intense thirst with a desire for cold drinks; constipation or dark, scanty urine; eased by cooling measures and prompt treatment.

Tongue: Red with prickly thorns and dry yellow coating. Pulse: Rapid, forceful, Slippery.

Treatment principle: Clear Heat and resolve toxicity, especially for inflamed skin lesions with redness and pus.

Clear Heat, resolve toxicity

L.I.-20 ↓ L.I.-11 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓ Du-14 ↓

Support Stomach

ST-36 ⊥

Note: no moxa. No deck anywhere on this site has a Toxic-Heat/Fire-poison category, so no pattern link is given here.

3. Qi and Blood Stagnation

Clinical manifestations: Thickened, bumpy skin on the nose; purplish-red or dark red discoloration; enlarged pores; fixed, stabbing pain or tenderness on the nose; chest tightness or rib distension; irritability or emotional tension; brought on by long-standing untreated Heat congealing into stasis, or chronic stress; eased by gentle movement and stress reduction.

Tongue: Dark purple with stasis spots, distended sublingual veins, thin white coating. Pulse: Wiry, Choppy.

Treatment principle: Invigorate Blood, move Qi, and resolve stasis in the upper body, softening the thickened skin.

Invigorate Blood

L.I.-20 ↓ SP-10 ↓ LR-3 ↓

Support

ST-36 ⊥

Note: no moxa. This site's "Liver-Blood stasis" slide is gynecological/hepatic-framed with no nasal or facial-skin content, so no pattern link is given here.

Related conditions

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