What Yangbai does
Yangbai 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
- Subdues Liver Yang
- Expels Wind
- Benefits the eyes
Location
One cun measured from the landmark shown in the diagram and the location text, on the forehead, 1 cun above the midpoint of the eyebrow, approximately at the junction of the upper two-thirds and lower third of the vertical line draw from the anterior hairline to the eyebrow.
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 look straight ahead so that the line through the pupil is fixed. From the midpoint of the eyebrow, measure one cun upwards; the same place can be found by dividing the distance from the eyebrow to the anterior hairline into three and taking the lower third. A second check is to run a finger down the forehead from the hairline: the frontal eminence is a gentle swelling, and Yangbai lies in the slight hollow between that swelling and the ridge of the brow.
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: 15 degrees, transverse Depth: Standard depth half a to half a cun. Direction: Needle in the direction the location describes.
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is given five to ten minutes where it is used at all, and the forehead is thin enough that the stick is kept moving and the skin checked as it goes. Warmth suits the cold and wind version of a face that aches in cold weather, and it is left out where the eye or the lid is red, hot or swollen.
Cupping
Cupping is contraindicated at Yangbai. The forehead is a curved bony surface with little soft tissue, so a cup cannot be seated without pressing on the bone and on the vessels above the eye, and suction would bruise a site that is already prone to bruising. Where a cup is wanted for a headache it goes on the neck or the upper back.
Skin uses
Yangbai is a Gallbladder point on the forehead, one cun above the midpoint of the eyebrow, recorded to subdue Liver Yang, expel Wind and benefit the eyes. Its location supports a local, cautious skin reading for lesions on the forehead and around the eye, and its classical record lists eye pain and itching of the pupil, with headache and blurred vision, which are ocular terms rather than a skin indication. No skin-specific classical indication is recorded for the point. The connection drawn here is therefore 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
Yangbai is located one cun above the eyebrow, directly above the pupil.
Classical citation for this point.
Yangbai is used for pain and itching of the pupil, for weak distant sight, and for the inability to see when the light fails at night.
Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold)
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
No special hazard is recorded for this point; use standard care for the region and adjust depth to the patient. The skin over the brow is thin and the supraorbital vessels and the frontal nerve run close beneath it. The needle is therefore inserted transversely or under the skin rather than perpendicularly, and the point is not manipulated roughly, since bruising there is easy and slow to settle. Cupping is not used on the forehead at all.
Deficiency and constitution
In a depleted patient the point is worked gently and briefly. Local work is kept gentle and brief as well, and the underlying deficiency is addressed with points elsewhere. Where the face is weak after a long illness, treatment is spread over repeated short sessions rather than concentrated into one strong one.
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 Yangbai do in skin practice?
It is used where the skin picture includes myopia eye pain headaches dizziness tearfulness opisthotonos eye deviation mouth deviation eyelids itching eyelids drooping facial paralysis eyelids twitching diminished night vision, always as part of a combination chosen for the pattern.
How is it needled?
10-15° (Transverse). Standard depth 0.3 - 0.5 cun. De qi: Local distension and heaviness over the forehead. The sensation may spread toward the eyebrow or over the frontal region. With transverse insertion, patients often report a pulling or stretching feeling in the frontalis muscle area.
Why does Yangbai matter in facial paralysis?
It is the point that supplies the upper face. If the forehead does not wrinkle when the patient tries to raise the eyebrows, the weakness lies at the level Yangbai treats, and the point is needled on the affected side together with points around the eye and the mouth. Its use follows the site of the weakness rather than a fixed formula.
Where exactly is Yangbai?
On the forehead, one cun above the middle of the eyebrow, on the line that runs through the pupil. Divide the distance from the eyebrow to the anterior hairline into three and take the lower third, in the shallow hollow between the brow ridge and the swelling of the frontal bone.
Can Yangbai be used for eye strain?
It is one of the local points for eye problems, including pain, itching of the lids, watering in wind and blurred or dim vision, and it is used with points around the orbit. Because the eye itself is close and the tissue is thin, the needling belongs to a practitioner, and any change in vision needs proper examination rather than acupuncture alone.