Bi Tong Penetrating the Nose, Nose Opening

What does Bi Tong do?

Bi Tong is an extra point beside the nose, belonging to no channel, so it carries no channel-theory actions — everything below comes from documented clinical use rather than from channel mechanics. In that documented use it does one thing: it opens a blocked nose. Nasal obstruction, chronic and allergic rhinitis and sinus congestion make up essentially its entire recorded scope, and its name says as much.

• Opens the nose and relieves nasal obstruction — the defining documented use, and the reason the point exists. It is the extra point reached for when the presenting complaint is simply that the nose will not clear.
• Reduces nasal discharge in rhinitis — recorded for both chronic and allergic rhinitis, including the running nose, sneezing and itching of hay-fever-type presentations.
• Eases sinus congestion and local swelling — used where fullness and pressure over the sinuses accompany the blocked nose.
• Used in nasal polyps and nasal boils — carried in the classical indication list, as a local point among others rather than alone.
• Used locally in facial paralysis — it sits in the nasolabial groove, so it appears among the local face points in some published facial-palsy protocols (PMID 32333541).

A note on the language. Older descriptions of Bi Tong speak of it "promoting the circulation of qi and blood" in the nose. That is channel-theory phrasing, and Bi Tong is on no channel — it has no five-shu, yuan, luo, back-shu or front-mu classification. What is documented is the clinical result: the nose opens. The channel point that genuinely carries the nasal action in channel terms is LI-20 Ying Xiang ("Welcome Fragrance"), the last point of the Large Intestine channel, whose recorded actions in Sacred Lotus sources & references are opening the nasal passages and expelling wind and clearing heat. Bi Tong sits a short distance above it in the same groove, and the two are so often used together — and needled into one another — that they are best read as a pair.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing action and use record, reframed as described; LI-20 record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 568); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 244); PubMed PMID 32333541; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is Bi Tong used for?

Bi Tong is used for a blocked nose, and for very little else. The indications carried in Sacred Lotus sources & references are rhinitis, nasal obstruction and nasal boils, with chronic and allergic rhinitis, sinus congestion and nasal polyps recorded among its uses; the wider reference literature sets them out as follows.

• Nasal obstruction — a blocked or stuffy nose
• Chronic rhinitis
• Allergic rhinitis, including perennial and seasonal presentations
• Sinus congestion and sinusitis
• Nasal discharge and a running nose
• Sneezing and itching of the nose
• Nasal polyps
• Nasal boils and local swelling
• Reduced sense of smell
• Facial paralysis, as a local point among others

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication and use record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 568); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 244); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

How is Bi Tong used in practice?

Bi Tong lies beside the nose, at the top of the crease that runs from the side of the nostril up towards the eye — the highest point of the nasolabial groove, where the wing of the nose meets the cheek. It is a purely local point, treated on both sides, and it is chosen for one reason: the nose is blocked. It is rarely used alone, and it belongs to a very small group of face points that are used together whenever the nose is the complaint.

Which points is Bi Tong combined with?

• With LI-20 Ying Xiang — the essential pairing. LI-20, held in Sacred Lotus sources & references, sits lower in the same groove beside the wing of the nostril, and the two are commonly joined by a single needle threaded from Bi Tong down towards it. This is the combination named most often in the chronic-rhinitis literature.
• With Yin Tang and LI-20 — the group known in the trial literature as the "three nasal points". A randomised trial of 60 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis used exactly these three, with additional points selected by pattern, against oral loratadine (PMID 25675568). All three are held in Sacred Lotus sources & references.
• With DU-23 Shang Xing and LI-04 He Gu — our own existing record names this combination for chronic rhinitis: DU-23 above on the forehead as the local governor-vessel point, LI-04 at the hand as the distal point for the whole face.
• With BL-02 Zan Zhu and Yin Tang — added where frontal sinus pressure and headache accompany the congestion.
• With LU-07 Lie Que and BL-12 Feng Men — the points used where the nasal presentation is understood as an exterior wind pattern with sneezing and a running nose.

Where does Bi Tong sit among the face points?

Among the head-and-face extra points held in Sacred Lotus sources & references — a group that also includes Yin Tang at the glabella, Tai Yang at the temple and Qiu Hou beneath the eye — Bi Tong is the specialist. Yin Tang is calming and general; Tai Yang belongs to the temple and the headache; Bi Tong does nothing but the nose. That narrowness is worth understanding, because it is also the reason a reader will rarely see it outside a rhinitis or sinusitis prescription.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location, existing use record, and the LI-20, Yin Tang, DU-23, LI-04, BL-02, LU-07 and BL-12 records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 568); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 244); PubMed PMID 25675568; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Bi Tong located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 568): At the highest point of the naso-labial groove.

How is Bi Tong needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this sets down what the standard texts document, not instruction for a reader. Sacred Lotus sources & references record transverse insertion of 0.3 to 0.5 cun directed towards the bridge of the nose, and record that moxibustion is generally avoided at this point, needling alone being the method described. Threading the needle down through to LI-20 Ying Xiang is also documented as a way of treating both points at once in chronic rhinitis.

• Angle documented: transverse (nearly flat under the skin), directed medially and upwards towards the bridge of the nose; or threaded downwards towards LI-20.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.3 to 0.5 cun.
• Moxibustion: generally avoided here — the point lies on the face, where moxibustion risks scarring, and our own reference records needling only.

What are the safety considerations at Bi Tong?

There is no cavity or organ hazard at Bi Tong, and the transverse angle recorded for it exists precisely to keep the needle shallow and away from what lies deeper. The considerations documented in this region are the following.

• Facial vessels. The facial artery and vein and their angular branches run through the nasolabial groove close to the point, and this is a highly vascular area of the face. Bruising is the commonly reported local event, and the references describe pressure after withdrawal.
• Proximity to the eye. The point sits at the lower rim of the orbital region and the groove leads upwards towards the inner corner of the eye. This is the reason the documented angle is transverse and superficial rather than perpendicular and deep, and why the recorded depth is short.
• A cosmetically sensitive site. The face bruises visibly and heals slowly compared with the limbs, which the reference literature treats as a practical constraint on technique here rather than as a hazard in itself.
• Moxibustion is not the documented method — the standard references specify needling only at this point.

Standard clean-needle practice applies. Acupuncture is carried out only by qualified, licensed practitioners; this record documents the reference literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling and notes record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 568); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 244); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What does the name Bi Tong mean?

Bi Tong means "Penetrating the Nose" or "Nose Opening" — bi is the nose, tong is to pass through, penetrate or open a passage. Like An Mian ("Peaceful Sleep") and Luo Zhen ("Stiff Neck"), it belongs to the group of extra points named for the result rather than for a landmark or a channel image: the point is called "the nose opens", and that is exactly the whole of its recorded scope. It is one of the most honestly named points in the literature — a reader who knows nothing else about it knows from the name what it is for.

Is Bi Tong the same point as Shang Ying Xiang?

In most of the literature, yes — the two names refer to the same point, and readers meet both. Shang Ying Xiang means "Upper Welcome Fragrance", naming the point by its position above LI-20 Ying Xiang ("Welcome Fragrance") in the same nasolabial groove. Some texts treat the two names as strictly interchangeable; others describe Shang Ying Xiang slightly higher, at the junction of the nasal cartilage and the turbinate, and reserve Bi Tong for the top of the groove itself. The distance between the two descriptions is a few millimetres and the clinical scope is identical. Sacred Lotus sources & references locate the point at the highest point of the nasolabial groove, and we keep that location. Its modern extra-point number is EX-HN 8, and older texts write M-HN-14.

Is Bi Tong a channel point?

No. Bi Tong is an extra point. Extra points sit outside the fourteen channels: they were recorded for an observed clinical effect rather than derived from channel theory, so they carry no five-shu, yuan, luo, xi-cleft, back-shu or front-mu classification. That is why our record shows no channel and no point categories, and why the actions above are framed as documented uses. Its immediate neighbour LI-20 Ying Xiang is a channel point — the final point of the Large Intestine channel — which is the distinction to hold on to when reading the two records side by side.

Is there research on Bi Tong?

The honest answer is that there is no trial of Bi Tong on its own, and the point-relevant literature amounts to two studies in which it was one needle among several. We searched the indexed literature specifically for this point and found no study isolating it.

• Perennial allergic rhinitis. Sixty patients were randomised to acupuncture at the "three nasal points" — LI-20 Ying Xiang, Yin Tang (EX-HN 3) and Bi Tong — plus points selected by pattern differentiation, three times weekly for four weeks, or to oral loratadine 10 mg daily for four weeks. Immediate effective rates were similar between the two groups, while at follow-up the acupuncture group retained a higher effective rate, 86.7% against 56.7% (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2014;34(11):1083–1086, PMID 25675568). An unblinded 60-patient trial against an active drug, with Bi Tong one of at least three points, cannot show what this point contributed.
• Allergic rhinitis, as a comparator arm. A trial of heat-sensitive moxibustion in 70 patients with allergic rhinitis used, as its manual-acupuncture comparison arm, needling at LI-20, LI-04, Bi Tong (EX-HN 8) and Yin Tang (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2017;42(6):527–532, PMID 29318861). Bi Tong appears here only as part of the control protocol.
• Facial paralysis, as a local point. A trial of muscle-region needling in 80 patients with Hunt facial paralysis included Bi Tong-adjacent nasal and facial points within a multi-point protocol (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2020;45(4):330–333, PMID 32333541). Again, whole-protocol evidence only.

For a small, narrowly scoped extra point this is not a surprising result, and a short accurate record is better than a padded one. Trials of acupuncture for rhinitis that include Bi Tong among several needles report on the protocol, not on this point, and are not presented here as though they did.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 568); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 244); PubMed PMID 25675568, 29318861, 32333541 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.