TCM Skin CompendiumEducational reference

Comparison

Quchi (LI-11) vs Xuehai (SP-10)

These are two of the most used points in the skin pages. Quchi LI-11 is recorded in the treatment of 103 of the 132 skin conditions here, and Xuehai SP-10 in 110. They are often used together, but they do different jobs: Quchi clears Heat and drains Dampness at the surface, while Xuehai works on the Blood itself.

How to use this comparison. This is a reading aid, not a recommendation or a needling guide. Both pages describe practitioner procedures, so the safety notes belong in the foreground. Use Start here, the glossary and the pattern self-check for background.

At a glance

What the two point pages record
Quchi (LI-11)Xuehai (SP-10)
Channel Large Intestine Meridian (Hand Yangming) Spleen Meridian (Foot Taiyin)
Location Outer end of the elbow crease with the elbow bent, halfway between Chize LU-5 and the lateral epicondyle of the humerus. Two cun above the upper inner border of the kneecap, in a soft depression on the vastus medialis muscle.
Main actions Clears Heat, cools the Blood, resolves Dampness, removes channel obstruction. Cools the Blood, moves it and removes stagnation, and nourishes it when tonified; regulates menstruation.
Patterns it serves Damp-Heat and Wind-Heat, where Heat and Dampness show at the surface. Heat in the Blood and Blood deficiency, where Blood is too hot or too thin.
Recorded skin uses Eczema, especially weeping; acne; dry scaly skin with Heat; red, swollen, painful lesions. Eczema with redness and intense itch; herpes zoster pain; genital itching and related irritation.
Needling Perpendicular, 1.0 to 2.5 cun. Practitioner procedure. Perpendicular, 1.0 to 1.5 cun, vertical or oblique. Reducing for hot, red, itchy skin; tonifying for dry, pale, thin skin.
Main safety note The radial nerve and a branch of the radial recurrent artery lie beneath the point, so deep needling needs care; it is more superficial in thin or older patients. Care where the pulse is thin and weak, because the point strongly moves Blood; in Blood deficiency tonify only; in pregnancy keep stimulation gentle.

Location and how they are found

Quchi sits at the outer end of the elbow crease, between the end of the crease and the bony knob on the outside of the elbow. The page suggests bending the elbow fully, finding that outer end, then flexing to about ninety degrees and pressing for a tender hollow on the muscle along the top of the forearm. De qi is a local fullness or aching.

Xuehai is on the inner thigh: bend the knee, find the upper inner corner of the kneecap, measure two cun upward along the inner thigh and feel for a soft hollow in the muscle. The page notes that the depression, rather than the exact measurement, is the better guide.

What each point does in skin practice

Quchi is a cooling, draining point: it takes Heat out of the interior, cools the Blood that carries that Heat to the skin, and drains the Dampness that makes a lesion weep. That is why it is the point of choice in hot, itchy pictures and in the weeping phase of eczema.

Xuehai is the point for the Blood itself. Its name means Sea of Blood, and the page describes its work as cooling Blood that is too hot, moving Blood that has stagnated, and nourishing Blood when the technique is tonifying. It is the main point for Heat in the Blood, and the same point is used in the opposite direction for dry, pale, thin skin when tonified.

The patterns each suits

Quchi appears in the treatment list for Damp-Heat, where the skin is red, weepy and slow to clear, and in the Wind-Heat patterns, where lesions come up quickly and itch. Its work is on the surface and in the channels: clearing, drying and dispersing rather than nourishing.

Xuehai appears in the treatment list for Heat in the Blood, where redness is deep, bleeding may occur and heat is worse at night, and in Blood deficiency, where skin is dry, pale and thin. The technique decides whether it cools or nourishes.

How they are often combined

The Quchi page records the skin formula of points: LI-11 Quchi with SP-10 Xuehai and LI-4 Hegu, used for urticaria, eczema, psoriasis and generalised itch. Quchi clears the Heat, Xuehai cools the Blood and Hegu releases the surface and moves the Qi, and it is described as the first trio tried when the skin is hot and itchy.

The Xuehai page explains the pairing directly: Quchi clears the Heat and Xuehai cools the Blood beneath it, so the two work on the same problem from different levels.

Needling and safety

Both pages state that needling, moxibustion, cupping and bloodletting at these points are practitioner procedures, and that the pages are educational rather than self-treatment guides. For Quchi, the radial nerve and a branch of the radial recurrent artery lie beneath the point, so deep needling requires care, and depleted patients are stimulated gently and briefly.

For Xuehai, the main caution is a thin, weak pulse: the point strongly moves Blood and can deplete someone who is already Blood deficient, so in Blood deficiency it is tonified only. Pregnancy calls for gentle stimulation, because the point influences menstrual flow and uterine blood. Both pages also point beyond acupuncture for urgent signs: a hot, spreading or blistering lesion with fever needs medical assessment, and treatment is used alongside that care, not instead of it.

Conditions in the library

Both points appear in the treatment lists of eczema, atopic dermatitis, chronic urticaria, psoriasis and contact dermatitis. Acne appears with Quchi, and neurodermatitis with Xuehai.

Modern evidence and safety

General references for acupuncture safety and skin evidence. They are not specific to the points compared here, and they are not a claim that needling treats any condition.