Du Mai (Governing Vessel) Channel
Sharp Tip
兑端Duì DuānAnatomical location
On the tubercle of the upper lip, at the junction of the skin and the mucous membrane, on the midline.
Main function
Expels Wind, calms the Shen, benefits the mouth.
Therapeutic indications
- Toothache
- facial paralysis
- facial spasms
- deviation of the mouth
- gum pain
- stomatitis
- mania
- nasal obstruction
- intense thirst
Name and classical tradition
Duiduan, 兑端, is the “sharp tip.” 兑 (兌) is equivalent here to 銳, sharp, pointed; 端 is the extremity. The point lies on the tubercle of the upper lip, on the border between the skin and the vermilion of the lip, the tip that crowns the mouth. 兌 is also one of the eight trigrams of the Yijing (Book of Changes), the one associated with the mouth. The reading that links the tip and the trigram of the mouth is plausible, but no source makes it explicit; the same play appears in ST45, Lidui.
The sources count it among the points recorded in the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), with no literal quotation. No alternative names or additional historical data are known for it. It is one of the Du Mai points with the least information.
