Taiyang and Yintang
Star太陽、印堂 (Tàiyáng, Yìntáng)
Modern Chinese point-pair (对穴) teaching, as compiled by Guo Changqing and colleagues at the School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.
Points
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Clears wind and heat from the temple and eyes; takes the effect to the side of the head.
Patient sitting or supine. In the hollow about a finger's breadth behind the midpoint between the outer end of the eyebrow and the outer canthus. Two approaches: (1) perpendicular, 0.3–0.5 cun, to a local ache with distension; or (2) directed backward and threaded transversely toward GB8, 1.0–2.0 cun, so that the ache and distension spread over the temple. The needle passes the subcutaneous tissue into temporalis, close to the superficial temporal artery and vein.
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Calms the spirit and clears the forehead and nose from the midline.
Patient sitting or supine. At the midpoint between the inner ends of the eyebrows. Pinch the skin up and thread the needle transversely downward, 0.3–0.5 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue, procerus and corrugator supercilii to the frontal periosteum, until a local ache with distension is felt.
Treatment Principle
Calm the spirit, expel wind and clear heat.
Indications
Method
With the patient sitting or supine, pinch up and thread Yintang downward, and needle Taiyang either perpendicularly for a local response or threaded back toward GB8 for a spreading one.
⚠ Cautions
Taiyang lies over the superficial temporal vessels and bruises easily; press firmly on withdrawal.
About
Two of the most familiar extra points of the head, one on each temple and one between the brows, used together to quieten the mind and to clear wind and heat from the forehead, eyes and nose.
Rationale
Neither point belongs to a regular channel. Taiyang covers the temple and the outer eye, where the Gallbladder and Triple Energiser channels run; Yintang sits on the path of the Governor Vessel between the brows, over the root of the nose. Together they span the front and side of the head, which suits pain along the face, disturbed sleep and the eye and nose complaints in the list.
Clinical Notes
The source's threaded Taiyang goes to GB8 (Shuaigu) behind the temporal hairline; our point record mentions threading toward TE23 instead. Both are established variants, with the GB8 thread reaching further over the temple.
Sources
- Guo Changqing (ed.). Acupuncture of Acupoint Combinations: Quick Lookups. Daylesford: Heart Space Publications, 2020 (English edition; © China Science and Technology Press). ISBN 978-0-6489215-5-4. Chapter 2, combination 6.
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