Inspection of Tongue Coating

Question 1

Color of the Tongue Coating

Answer 1

White
Yellow
Grey (Interior Syndrome; cold or heat)
Black (Internal heat or extreme internal cold)

Question 2

White Thin Coating

Answer 2

Exterior or cold syndrome

Question 3

White Thin and slippery coating

Answer 3

External pathogen invasion caused by wind-cold

Question 4

White, slippery, and sticky coating

Answer 4

Existence of internal wetness-phlegm

If there’s tooth mark; Phlegm+damp

Question 5

White tender and slippery coating that can be scraped completely

Answer 5

Interior deficiency cold syndrome

rootless coating; Yang Def.

Question 6

White coating on a crimson tongue

Answer 6

Containment of dampness by hidden heat

Thicker coating means strong pathogens; sudden onset means better prognosis

Question 7

White coating like a layer of accumulated white powder

Answer 7

Serious filthy turbidity in epidemic febrile diseases

Question 8

White thick dry and cracked coating with sharply contoured granules like sand

Answer 8

Sudden and violent onset of internal heat accompanied with extreme exhaustion of body fluids
(Tongue body would be red; Yin Def.)

Question 9

Yellow Thin Coating

Answer 9

Interior or heat syndrome

Question 10

Light yellow coating is still moist

Answer 10

External pathogen begins to invade the interior

Question 11

Yellow thick, dry coating

Answer 11

Exuberance of internal heat and body fluids have been consumed

Question 12

Scorching yellow, dry, and cracked coating

Answer 12

The extreme exuberance of internal heat and body fluids have been deplete.

Question 13

Yellow, slippery, and greasy coating

Answer 13

Accumulation of damp-heat in SP & ST

Internal heat complicated by phlegm-turbidity

Question 14

Grey and dry coating

Answer 14

Exuberance of heat and the depletion of body fluids

Question 15

Grey and moist coating

Answer 15

Internal obstruction due to Cold-Dampness

Def. can make Stagnation- that’s why it’s not pale white anymore

Question 16

Black dry crack or prickled coating

Answer 16

Extreme heat and genuine yin is about to be dried up

Question 17

Black moist slippery coating

Answer 17

Existence of obstinate

Cold-Dampness

Question 18

Thin Coating

Answer 18

Mild disorders (Righteous qi has not been damaged)
Exterior syndrome
Or the condition os not serious

Question 19

Thick Coating

Answer 19

Serious disorder
Exuberance of pathogenic evils
Interior syndrome
The accumulation of phlegm, dampness, turbidity
Or the retention of body fluids or food

Question 20

Thin to Thick

Answer 20

An advance of diseases

Question 21

Thick to Thin

Answer 21

A retreat of diseases

Question 22

Humidity of the coating

Answer 22

Moist
- body fluids have not been damaged
Slippery
- Dampness, cold or the upward outflow of phlegm-fluid resulting from the decline of Yang or vital energy.
Dry
- The exuberance of heat
- The exuberance of Yin or Fluid
- The failure of upward transportation of fluid due to Yang or Qi Def.

Question 23

When a coating changes from moist to dry, or vice versa

Answer 23

A changes of pathologic state correspondingly

Question 24

Corroded coating is thick, loose, like bean dregs, easy to be wiped away

Answer 24

Retention of food

Or the accumulation of phlegm or turbidity.

Question 25

Greasy coating is slimy, like an oily layer, unable to be wiped away or scraped off

Answer 25

Dampness-Turbidity Phlegm

Or food retention

Question 26

Distribution

Answer 26

Pathogens are located in the corresponded area

Question 27

Peeling off of the tongue coating

Answer 27

ST qi and ST yin Def.

Question 28

If the peeling off occurs at multiple areas with clear-cut margins exposing the tongue surface

Answer 28

Geographic tongue

Question 29

If a coating peels off entirely

Answer 29

Mirror like tongue

Question 30

Sublingual vessel collaterals

Answer 30

Tortuosity or varicosity
Distending or engorged collaterals
Thin or slender collaterals