Inspection of Tongue Coating Flashcards
Color of the Tongue Coating
White
Yellow
Grey (Interior Syndrome; cold or heat)
Black (Internal heat or extreme internal cold)
White Thin Coating
Exterior or cold syndrome
White Thin and slippery coating
External pathogen invasion caused by wind-cold
White, slippery, and sticky coating
Existence of internal wetness-phlegm
If there’s tooth mark; Phlegm+damp
White tender and slippery coating that can be scraped completely
Interior deficiency cold syndrome
rootless coating; Yang Def.
White coating on a crimson tongue
Containment of dampness by hidden heat
Thicker coating means strong pathogens; sudden onset means better prognosis
White coating like a layer of accumulated white powder
Serious filthy turbidity in epidemic febrile diseases
White thick dry and cracked coating with sharply contoured granules like sand
Sudden and violent onset of internal heat accompanied with extreme exhaustion of body fluids
(Tongue body would be red; Yin Def.)
Yellow Thin Coating
Interior or heat syndrome
Light yellow coating is still moist
External pathogen begins to invade the interior
Yellow thick, dry coating
Exuberance of internal heat and body fluids have been consumed
Scorching yellow, dry, and cracked coating
The extreme exuberance of internal heat and body fluids have been deplete.
Yellow, slippery, and greasy coating
Accumulation of damp-heat in SP & ST
Internal heat complicated by phlegm-turbidity
Grey and dry coating
Exuberance of heat and the depletion of body fluids
Grey and moist coating
Internal obstruction due to Cold-Dampness
Def. can make Stagnation- that’s why it’s not pale white anymore
Black dry crack or prickled coating
Extreme heat and genuine yin is about to be dried up
Black moist slippery coating
Existence of obstinate
Cold-Dampness
Thin Coating
Mild disorders (Righteous qi has not been damaged)
Exterior syndrome
Or the condition os not serious
Thick Coating
Serious disorder Exuberance of pathogenic evils Interior syndrome The accumulation of phlegm, dampness, turbidity Or the retention of body fluids or food
Thin to Thick
An advance of diseases
Thick to Thin
A retreat of diseases
Humidity of the coating
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.
When a coating changes from moist to dry, or vice versa
A changes of pathologic state correspondingly
Corroded coating is thick, loose, like bean dregs, easy to be wiped away
Retention of food
Or the accumulation of phlegm or turbidity.
Greasy coating is slimy, like an oily layer, unable to be wiped away or scraped off
Dampness-Turbidity Phlegm
Or food retention
Distribution
Pathogens are located in the corresponded area
Peeling off of the tongue coating
ST qi and ST yin Def.
If the peeling off occurs at multiple areas with clear-cut margins exposing the tongue surface
Geographic tongue
If a coating peels off entirely
Mirror like tongue
Sublingual vessel collaterals
Tortuosity or varicosity
Distending or engorged collaterals
Thin or slender collaterals
