What Tinggong does
Tinggong is treated here as a practical point rather than a curiosity: where it sits, how it is needled, what the tradition says it does, and the skin conditions in this database that name it.
Actions
- Benefits the ears
Location
The written location is summarised from the classical record; use the landmark named there together with the diagram.
How to find it
Find the bony landmark first, then feel for the hollow or tender spot the location describes. The point is usually sensitive when pressed. Ask the patient to open the mouth slightly and to hold it there, because the condyloid process of the mandible slides forward and uncovers the depression the point occupies. With the mouth open, find the vertical groove where the ear meets the cheek, then follow it to the level of the tragus. The reference places Tinggong on that groove at the height of the tragus, in the middle of the row formed by Ermen TB-21 above and Tinghui GB-2 below. A rolled piece of gauze between the teeth helps a patient hold the position while the needle is in place.
Deqi
De qi at this point is felt as local distension, heaviness or aching, and may travel a short way along the channel.
A cun is a proportional body measurement, not a fixed length: one cun is about the width of the thumb at the knuckle, 1.5 cun about two finger widths, and 3 cun about the width of four fingers. On an average adult one cun is roughly one inch, but it scales with the person, which is why the texts measure in cun rather than centimetres.
Technique
Needling
Angle: 90 degrees, perpendicular Depth: Standard depth half a to one cun. Direction: Needle in the direction the location describes.
Moxibustion
The reference marks moxibustion at Tinggong as questionable and gives a range of 5 to 10 minutes. The ear and the joint in front of it are delicate, the point is shallow, and the skin here is thin, so any warmth has to be brief and carefully guarded. It is not the technique the reference recommends at this point, and it is not the method to choose where the ear is hot, painful or discharging.
Cupping
Cupping is listed as contraindicated at Tinggong. The point sits in a shallow hollow beside the ear, over the jaw joint and the temporal vessels, where a cup cannot be applied without pressing on cartilage, joint and artery at once. The reference excludes it on that basis, and the same reasoning rules out any other suction device applied to the area.
Gua sha
Gua sha is contraindicated at Tinggong. The point lies in a shallow depression over the temporomandibular joint, in thin skin close to the ear cartilage, and scraping there would press the joint and the temporal vessels rather than treat the point. The reference rules gua sha out for this site, so the surface techniques are not an option here.
Bleeding
Bleeding is contraindicated at Tinggong. The region is supplied by the superficial temporal artery and its branches running over the joint, so a lancet here risks a confined bruise in a space that has little room for it. The reference lists no indication at this point that calls for letting blood, and the ear complaints it is used for are treated with the needle.
Skin uses
Tinggong is a Small Intestine point in front of the ear, recorded to benefit the ears, and the classical record names it as a meeting place of the Hand Taiyang, Hand Shaoyang and Foot Shaoyang channels. Its skin relevance is local and modest: lesions around the ear are sometimes considered alongside it because of the location and channel meeting, while its recorded indications are ear symptoms such as pain, itch and discharge. Those ear terms are not a skin indication. No skin-specific classical indication is recorded for the point, so the link is an indirect rationale, not trial evidence.
No skin-specific classical indication is recorded for this point. The rationale above is an indirect, traditional reading of the point, not a promise of benefit.
Point classifications
| Classification | Value |
|---|---|
| Channel | Meridian |
Classical record
Names Tinggong as the meeting place of the Hand Taiyang, Hand Shaoyang and Foot Shaoyang channels, and follows the pathway that enters the ear at this point.
Shi Si Jing Fa Hui (Elaboration of the Fourteen Channels), as recorded in the reference
The branch of the Small Intestine channel climbs towards the ear and ends at Tinggong in front of it.
Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot), as recorded in the reference
Lists deafness, ringing in the ears and the purulent discharge the old texts call ting er, the running ear, among the conditions governed by this point.
Zhenjiu Jiayijing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), as recorded in the reference
Safety
Who should treat this point
Acupuncture and moxibustion are practitioner procedures. This page is educational and is not a guide to self-treatment.
Caution
Safety flags: the reference marks it as a dangerous point. Needle with care, adjust depth to the patient's build, and modify or avoid the point where a flag applies. The superficial temporal artery and the auriculotemporal nerve run through this small area, so the reference asks the practitioner to feel for pulsation before inserting and to press the site after the needle is withdrawn. Deep insertion is contraindicated because the temporomandibular joint lies immediately beneath the point. Shallow needling with the mouth open is the rule, and where the needle is retained a small object between the teeth keeps the joint from closing onto it. A bruise in a small space is the practical risk of the vessels here.
Deficiency and constitution
In a depleted patient the point is worked gently and briefly.
Before treatment
Educational reference only. Skin that is spreading, painful, blistering or accompanied by fever needs medical assessment.
Modern evidence and safety
General references for acupuncture safety and skin evidence. They are not specific to this point, and they are not a claim that needling it treats any condition.
- Acupuncture-related adverse events: systematic review and meta-analyses of prospective clinical studies. BMJ Open, 2021. PMID: 34489268.
- Acupuncture for atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 2024. PMID: 39638592.
- Manual acupuncture for the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Surgery, 2025. PMID: 40696933.
- Acupuncture in Dermatology: An Update to a Systematic Review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2021. PMID: 32955916.
Evidence note
No controlled trial of this treatment in skin conditions was identified for this entry. What is described here rests on the classical and later materia medica record and on traditional clinical use, not on controlled trial evidence, and it is not a prediction of benefit. Where skin-specific research does exist it is linked above.
Common questions
What does Tinggong do in skin practice?
It is used where the skin picture includes tinnitus deafness ear pain ear itching ear discharge, always as part of a combination chosen for the pattern.
Why is Tinggong needled with the mouth open?
Opening the mouth moves the condyloid process of the jaw forward and uncovers the depression that the point occupies, so the needle enters a soft hollow rather than the joint. The reference asks the practitioner to locate and needle with the mouth open and to keep it slightly open while the needle is retained, and it suggests a small object between the teeth so the patient can hold the position without strain.
How does Tinggong differ from Tinghui and Ermen?
All three sit in front of the tragus and are used for the same ear complaints, with Tinghui GB-2 below, Ermen TB-21 above and Tinggong SI-19 between them. The reference singles Tinggong out as especially important for deafness and ringing that come from a Deficient pattern such as Lung or Heart Qi deficiency, and advises rotating the three when treatments are frequent rather than repeating one point.
Is Tinggong a skin point?
Not in the usual sense. Its recorded action is to benefit the ears, and in this database it appears where the presenting problem is tinnitus, deafness, ear pain, itching or discharge. Itching and discharge of the ear canal are surface complaints of the ear, which is how the point reaches a dermatology-facing page, but the reasoning behind it is local rather than a judgement about a rash elsewhere on the body.