The Marks Left by Cupping Reveal Your Physical Condition
Traditional Chinese Medicine cupping has quietly entered people's lives, whether for hospital treatment or home healthcare. However, many people only know that cupping is done, but not why. In fact, the marks left after cupping are a language that conveys where the body's ailments lie.
If the cup mark is purplish-black and dull, it generally indicates blood stasis in the body, such as irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, or insufficient blood supply to the heart. Of course, if the affected area has been severely exposed to cold, purplish-black and dull marks may also appear. If the mark does not fade for several days, it often indicates a long-standing illness that requires a longer course of treatment. If extensive purplish-black marks appear during moving cupping, it suggests that a large area is affected by wind and cold, and targeted treatment should be administered to dispel cold and expel pathogenic factors.
A purplish cup mark with patches generally indicates a condition of cold congealing and blood stasis.
If the cup mark is scattered purplish dots of varying depths, it generally suggests a condition of qi stagnation and blood stasis.
A light purplish-blue mark with patches is generally mainly a deficiency condition, accompanied by blood stasis. If it appears at the Shenshu (BL23) acupoint, it suggests kidney deficiency. If it appears at the Pishu (BL20) acupoint, it indicates qi deficiency and blood stasis. This mark is often accompanied by tenderness upon palpation.
A bright and vivid red cup mark generally indicates yin deficiency or deficiency of both qi and yin. This mark can also appear in cases of yin deficiency with blazing fire.
A cup mark in the form of bright red scattered dots, which usually appears after large-area moving cupping and does not protrude from the skin. If these dots are concentrated around a particular acupoint and its vicinity, it indicates the presence of pathogenic factors in the zang-fu organ corresponding to that acupoint. (In clinical practice, moving cupping is sometimes used to find such red dots, which are then treated with acupuncture to address illnesses.)
A grayish-white cup mark that feels cold to the touch is mostly due to deficiency-cold and dampness.
If the surface of the cup mark has streaks and is slightly itchy, it indicates wind and dampness conditions.
Water vapor inside the cup indicates that the area has dampness.
The appearance of blisters on the cup mark indicates heavy internal dampness. If the blisters contain bloody fluid, it is a sign of damp-heat toxicity.
If blisters, edema, or excessive water vapor appear in the cupping area, it reveals a qi disorder.
The appearance of deep red, purplish-black, or subcutaneous bleeding (ecchymosis), or slight tenderness upon palpation combined with a fever in the body, suggests a heat-toxin syndrome. If there is no fever, it suggests a stasis syndrome.
If the skin color does not change and it feels cold to the touch, it suggests a deficiency syndrome.
If there is no cup mark after cupping, or if the mark disappears immediately after removing the cup and the skin color returns to normal, it mostly indicates that the pathogenic factors are still mild. Of course, no mark may also appear if the acupoints are not selected accurately. It should not be judged based on a single session; one should have several sessions to confirm the presence of a condition.