Tongue diagnosis

Question 1

What is a normal tongue body colour?

Answer 1

Pale red.
The body reflects the state of blood and nutritive qi and yin organs.
It reflects conditions of heat or cold and of yin or yang deficiency.

Question 2

What does a pale tongue indicate?

Answer 2

Indicates either a deficiency of yang or deficiency of blood.

Deficiency of yang: slightly wet
Deficiency of blood: slightly dry

Question 3

What does a red tongue indicate?

Answer 3

Always indicates heat.

Full heat: red with tongue coating
Empty head: red with no tongue coating
Red tip: heart fire or heart empty heat

Question 4

What does a purple tongue indicate?

Answer 4

Stasis of blood

Reddish-purple: indicates heat and stasis of blood
Bluish purple: indicates cold and stasis of blood

Question 5

What does the tongue body shape indicate?

Answer 5

Gives an indication of blood and nutritive qi and it reflects the full or empty character of a condition

Question 6

What does a thin tongue indicate?

Answer 6

Indicates either a blood deficiency if the tongue is also pale or a yin deficiency if it is red and without coating.

Question 7

What does a swollen tongue indicate?

Answer 7

A swollen tongue indicates a retention of dampness or phlegm.

Question 8

What does tongue coating indicate?

Answer 8

Reflects the state of the yang organs, in particular the stomach
It reflects conditions of heat or cold, fullness or deficiency

A normal tongue should have a thin white coating. The tongue coating is formed from residual dirty dampness which is left over from the stomach’s digestion.

Question 9

What do the coating on the tongue indicate?

Answer 9

Absence of coating: Stomach-yin deficiency
Thick coating: pathogenic factor
White coating: cold pattern
Yellow coating: Full-heat pattern

A grey/black coating can indicate extreme cold or extreme heat depending on whether the tongue is wet or dry.