Scalp points are so useful, and so underused.  At the request of a clinical student at CICM, here is a quick review, starting with the front.

First lets look at that line of points 0.5 cun posterior to the natural hairline.  If you are unsure what 0.5 cun looks like, or there is no hairline, remember that the forehead measures 3 cun, with a ridge at 1 cun.

Du 24 – is at the midline

St 8 – is at the corner of the head

Moving from Du 24 to St 8, you will pass through the points Bl 3 at 1/6 distance,  Bl 4 at 1/3 distance, GB 15 at 1/2 distance (directly above the centre of the pupil), and GB13 at 2/3 of the distance.

Du 24 – midline

Bl4 – 1/3 distance

GB15 – 1/2 distancelevel with pupil

GB13 – 2/3 distance

St8 – corner of head

Now Find Du 20. There are a few ways to do this.

1. Du 20 is 5 cun posterior to the front natural hairline, 7 cun anterior to the back natural hairline.  Get a tailors tape measure, and you will find that 1 cun is roughly 1 inch, and you can easily measure the scalp points.  Make sure you are at the midline – stand behind your patient and follow visually the line of the nose, or measure with your fingers from the ears.
2. Du 20 is just visible if you are standing behind the patient, just posterior to the highest point of the head.
3. Du 20 is half the distance from the ridge of the forehead (1/3 of the way up) to the posterior hairline – measure with your fingers, a piece of string, or a tailors tape measure.
4. Du 20 is just in front (anterior) to the large inviting hollow at the crown of the head (and not the hollow itself), and should feel spongy and energetic.
5. Follow the line from the lowest part of the pinna of the ear, through the highest part of the pinna, and continue it up to Du 20.  Fold the ear in half vertically to highlight the high and low points.
6. Imagine that the head was square, with the vertex being the top, and the occiput the back – Du 20 would be at the corner of the box.

Divide the distance from Du20-24 into three – you have the points Du 24, Du 22 and Du 21 (1.5 cun apart).  Du 23 is 0.5 cun posterior to Du 24, but who cares about that?

Find  GB15/16/17/18 level horizontally with the points Du 24/22/21/20.  Yes, it really is that easy.

Now find Bl5/6/7/8 directly in line with Bl 4, and 0.5 cun posterior to the horizontal levels of Du24/22/21/20. In simple terms they are spaced out the same as the Du points, but 0.5 cun behind them (posterior).

If you are struggling to get the horizontal level of Bl 4, find Bl3 directly above Bl2 also 0.5 cun posterior to the hairline.   (Bl 2 is in the supra-orbital notch, at the medial end of the eyebrow, and roughly above Bl 1).  Bl 4 is double the distance from the midline of Bl 3.

Happy point hunting.  I will add some uses of these points, and a diagram, soon.