Author's Note: As the founder of the Academy of Advanced Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture, and the Advanced Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture Mentorship and Certificate Training Program, it is my pleasure to announce our partnership with Pacific College of Health Sciences (PCHS) to present the Facial Applications for Cosmetic Enhancement program (aka the FACE program). As part of the FACE program training requirements, students are trained to conduct and present a 10-week case study. The following case study was performed and submitted by Midori McGivern, DAc, LAc, MS, MPS, Advanced Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture Specialist.
There is a Japanese saying that the "face is a mirror of the heart": we believe our face is a reflection of our heart and spirit. This case report is about a male patient whose chief complaint was his stress and frustration from the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work in 2020. Upon visual inspection, his eyes were puffy, dry, red and had a lack of bright shen. The patient also reported that since the COVID-19 lockdown started, he had a stiff neck and shoulders, as well as a digestive imbalance.
He is a 44-year-old corporate accountant who was significantly stressed by his remote work: he stated he felt "down and frustrated" as he "could not get the job done" properly. He also stated his face "became puffy and looked tired." As I was enrolled in the Academy of Advanced Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture Mentorship Training & Certificate Program, I decided this was a perfect case to use the method I learned in the program, using facial points to resolve his stress and his puffy, tired eyes; as well as his digestive issues.
History and Exam Details
Patient Information: 5'11," 150 lbs with skin type Fitzpatrick Scale 2 (light skin shade; skin becomes red and inflamed by sun exposure).
Past Medical History: age 7 – tonsillectomy and found allergy via anaphylactic shock at the hospital; age 18-20 – antibiotics (due to severe acne). Recent bloodwork showed normal range of BP, cholesterol and blood glucose.
Family History: mother (age 67) – long-term smoker, shortness of breath, lower back pain and insomnia; father (age 70) – no known illnesses.
Looking and Hearing: lean, slightly funnel chest (pectus excavatum).
Pulse: overall slippery, (L) guan has slightly wiry quality.
Tongue: small and puffy, pale color with thin white coat with reddish, scalloped edge.
Hot / Cold: neither.
Appetite: normal appetite, but often craves sweets.
Digestion: bloating, gas and sometimes constipation when too much stress. Discomfort eating too much oily, greasy food. Cannot tolerate spicy food.
Integumentary: eczema in his chest around CV 17. He stated that "it comes and goes randomly" since his 30s.
Reproduction: reported normal.
Sleep / Energy: poor sleep quality; the patient stated: "Not feeling refreshed, especially after pandemic started."
Eyes / Nose / Ears / Head: dry, red eyes; patient stated: "I look at PC screen for 12-15 hours per day."
Treatment Protocol
Except for the facial points, the diagnosis and point selection used were based on the teachings of Kiiko Matsumoto Style of Acupuncture (KMS). This approach is based on Hara-palpation, which helps to diagnostically determine constitutional and structural imbalances within the body. In KMS, Japanese thin needles, such as 0.16 mm, are used.
I used very light Hara-palpation and made the diagnoses "sugar imbalance" and "blood stagnation in abdomen (Oketsu)." Treatment principles were to tonify the spleen and regulate sugar, and move qi and blood, according to the diagnoses.
Points used for the face were both acupuncture points and muscular points: acupuncture points– GB 14, GB 15, Du 24, Yin Tang, Yu Yao, BL 2, TH 23; muscular local points – frontalis, glabella and corrugator specilli muscles; KD 27 for platysma muscle; CV 17 for chest eczema.
Clinical Outcome
The significant change in his face is shown in the before-after photographs. After five treatments, the patient stated that "sleep quality became much better" and he encountered "fewer digestive issues." At the 10th treatment, he stated his eyes felt less red and dry, and the puffiness had disappeared.
This patient is a male whose priority was not cosmetic changes, such as erasing wrinkles or lifting his face: however, he was unsurprisingly delighted to see the visible change made by the facial acupuncture when he saw the before-after pictures. I noticed that his eyes became not only less puffy, but also much brighter, as if his shen had come back to him.
Discussion / Practice Pearls
This case exemplifies how powerful facial acupuncture is for treating both emotions such as stress and frustration, and facial signs and symptoms. During the 10-time treatment, the patient was not exactly eating a lot of green vegetables. I did not recommend him to follow a strict diet, as tight restriction could invite another stress for this already stressed patient. However, at the end of his 10th treatment, the patient stated, "I eat less chocolate. I feel less craving these days."
For this patient, other modalities such as gua-sha can add benefit for the glabella lines. Furthermore, I advised him to apply consistent sun protection (especially important as he is Fitzpatrick Scale 2) and it would also help, if he can add a proper skin care regimen to maintain the positive changes. (Currently, he does not do anything.) There are so many positive changes you can make by using facial cosmetic acupuncture, even for non-metrosexual male patients.
Resource
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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