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Abstract
Face reading has been an integral part of Chinese medical diagnosis since the Han dynasty. In this article the author, a professional face reader, discusses how face reading can be used in Chinese medical practice, with the theory illustrated by clinical case examples.
Keywords: Facial diagnosis, Chinese face reading, physiognomy, diagnosis, Chinese medicine, TCM.
Introduction
Face reading has historically been considered an integral part of Chinese medical diagnosis, as it was viewed as an important place to find out information about the functioning of the internal organs. Diagnosis using the face was especially important for treating women, as the predominantly male doctors were not permitted to palpate them and so observing the face became the easiest way to gather diagnostic information. There are many references to face reading in ancient texts. According to medical anthropologist Sabine Wilms, Sun Simiao considered physiognomy to be an essential part of the education of an eminent physician.1 Paul Unschuld has found numerous diagrams of the face in the oldest extant documents of Chinese medicine that show both the 'age positions'2 (see Figure 1) and facial channels that are used for face reading today.3 The Han dynasty classic text, the Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) has numerous references to diagnostic signs on the face that relate to organ function.4
Using the face for diagnosis is not restricted to Chinese medicine. Western medicine also uses facial colours as indicators of disease - for example, the clear yellowing of the sclera and skin in jaundice, the red butterfly-shaped rash of lupus, the blue of cyanotic lips or the pale complexion of anaemia. Chinese facial diagnosis has even more specific information to offer, however, as it shows how specific facial features correspond to specific organs. In the Chinese system the colours, shapes and markings of the face reveal a detailed holographic blueprint of the functioning of the body.
As a professional face reader I work primarily with personality traits and the psychological and emotional states that underlie disease. Although not an acupuncturist, I have taught acupuncturists how to use facial diagnosis for over 20 years. During this time it has become clear to me that many practitioners benefit from support in using facial diagnosis in clinical...