Taiyang, Xiaguan and Daying
Star太陽、下關、大迎 (Tàiyáng, Xiàguān, Dàyíng)
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 from the temple and carries the treatment to the upper face.
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. Either (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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Stomach–Gallbladder meeting point in front of the ear; frees the jaw and relieves pain in the middle of the face.
Patient seated or lying down. Below the zygomatic arch and in front of the condyloid process, in the hollow over the mandibular notch — locate it with the mouth closed. Insert perpendicularly, 1.0–1.5 cun, through the parotid and masseter toward the infratemporal fossa, until an ache with numbness is felt locally.
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Stomach channel point over the facial artery; reduces swelling of the face and jaw.
Patient seated or supine. In front of the angle of the jaw, about 1.3 cun anterior and inferior to it, at the front edge of masseter where the facial artery pulses. Palpate the pulse and insert to one side of it, perpendicularly, 0.2–0.5 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue and depressor anguli oris to the anterior border of masseter. The ache and numbness should spread over the side of the face.
Treatment Principle
Expel wind and free the collaterals; reduce swelling and relieve pain.
Indications
Method
With the patient sitting or supine, needle Taiyang (perpendicular, or threaded back toward GB8), Xiaguan perpendicularly with the mouth shut, and Daying shallowly beside the facial artery.
⚠ Cautions
The facial artery lies at Daying: feel for the pulse and needle beside it, not into it. Taiyang lies over the superficial temporal vessels. Press all three sites on withdrawal.
About
A line of three points down the side of the face — temple, jaw joint and lower jaw — used to expel wind, relieve pain and bring down swelling. The source lists headache and dizziness, deviation of the eye and mouth, and facial swelling.
Rationale
Xiaguan and Daying are both Stomach channel points, on the channel's course from the lower jaw up in front of the ear to the forehead, and Xiaguan is a meeting point with the Gallbladder channel. Taiyang extends the line to the temple. Spaced from the jaw to the temple, they cover the whole lateral face along one channel.
Clinical Notes
The source's 0.2–0.5 cun at Daying is deeper than the 0.2–0.3 cun in our point record, and its 1.0–1.5 cun at Xiaguan deeper than our 0.5–1.0 cun; the shallower figures are sufficient in most patients.
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 12.
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