During your first appointment with any traditional Chinese medical (TCM) professional, you’ll be asked to stick out your tongue for an in-depth tongue examination. Why? What sort of clues does your tongue offer about the condition of your health?
The Tongue in Traditional Chinese Medicine
TCM is centuries old, originating long before x-rays, MRIs, or lab tests. Yet during those centuries, TCM doctors perfected other diagnostic skills that give them a very accurate picture of a patient’s internal health. One of these skills is evaluating the condition of your tongue.
The tongue is a mirror of your internal state of health, and provides a map of where and what kind of imbalances may be going on in major organ systems in your body.
What TCM Doctors Notice About Your Tongue
A TCM doctor will evaluate the size, shape, and color of your tongue as well as the type of coating your tongue may have, or whether it appears dry, moist, cracked or marked in any way.
- Shape and Size: Is your tongue fat, thin, smooth around the edges, or scalloped?
For example, a swollen tongue can mean you have a digestive or circulatory imbalance.
- Color: is your tongue a deep or a pale pink, red, or purple? Does it have dark undertones? Does the color change in different areas of your tongue? If your tongue is pale, that may mean you have one of many types of deficiency. If your tongue is deep red, that often indicates high levels of inflammation. Purple or blue undertones can mean your circulation is not optimal. These are all clues to get to the root of what’s causing your health problems.
- Coating: Does your tongue have a thin or heavy coating? Is that coating white, gray or yellowish? Is the coating greasy, waxy or dry and furry? For example, if you have a slightly gray and dry coating on your tongue, it can mean that too much trapped heat is in your body which could be affecting your fluid levels. If the gray coating is moist, your internal system may need some warming and/or drying herbs.
- Marks and Fissures: Are there cracks in the surface of your tongue? Are there teeth marks? Are there lesions or deformities? A good TCM doctor doesn’t just note that your tongue has cracks, they will consider which direction the cracks run and how deep they are. Even the condition of your taste buds can offer clues.
- Moisture: Is your tongue dry or moist? A moist coating can indicate too much dampness in your body. A dry tongue could mean your bodily fluids are getting dried up from excess heat or inflammation.
Your TCM doctor even evaluates the condition and color of the veins on the underside of your tongue for additional clues.
Where your tongue has different colorations, fissures, or coating, can also provide clues to where the internal imbalance may be in your system, according to TCM. Here’s a map of the tongue’s surface showing your TCM doctor what TCM defined organ system your health issues could be stemming from.
Piecing all of your tongue characteristics together, gives a good snapshot of what’s going on inside your body, and helps your TCM herbal doctor choose the specific herbal ingredients for your customized herbal formula.
Your Tongue Changes
Even though a research study showed that eczema patients have commonalities in their observable tongue condition, you’re TCM doctor isn’t really looking for a “cookie-cutter” pattern to tell them that you have eczema. It’s deeper than that. A TCM dermatologist uses a tongue diagnosis to understand all the contributing factors to your version of eczema, TSW, psoriasis, acne or other skin symptoms.
Every patient’s skin condition can have a very different root cause than another patient’s skin condition, with each needing a different treatment plan. The tongue, in conjunction with a full examination of the skin and a thorough intake of questions about your environment, lifestyle, life stage, review of systems, and discussion of symptomology, helps your TCM dermatologist determine the best herbal path forward.
Conclusion
Traditional Chinese medicine works on the assumption that the health of any one part of your body is interrelated with every other part: hence it’s referred to as holistic. Your tongue, like your skin, can be an outward indicator of specific internal imbalances. The tongue is just one of many factors your TCM doctor will evaluate in understanding your unique health profile and how best to assist your healing process.
So at your next appointment with a TCM health provider, get ready to open up and say “Ahhhh!”
Want to Learn More About Skin Health?
Click HERE to get the Amethyst Holistic Skin Solutions Newsletter. You’ll receive interesting information about skin health via articles, before/after pictures, case studies of Amethyst patients, videos, interviews and more. Feel free to share this article with someone who you think may benefit.
About the Author
Olivia Hsu Friedman, LAc, Dipl.OM, DACM, Cert. TCMDerm, is the owner of Amethyst Holistic Skin Solutions and treats Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, and TSW. Olivia treats patients via video conferencing using only herbal medicine. Olivia is Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Acupuncturists, serves on the Advisory Board of LearnSkin, and is a faculty member of the Chicago Integrative Eczema Group sponsored by the National Eczema Association.