素髎 Suliao
“Plain Hollow” · GV25
Governing Vessel · 25 of 28
Where. At the very tip of the nose.
For. A blocked nose, sinus trouble, a reddened nose.
Press. Light touch with a fingertip, about a minute.
在鼻柱上端按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Suliao Sits: the Tip of the Nose
The dataset's location line is unusually short for this point: on the face, at the very centre of the tip of the nose. There are no cun measurements and no finger-widths from neighbouring landmarks, because none are needed. The nose tip is the most forward-projecting point of the face, visible to anyone standing before a mirror, and its exact centre is found by eye more readily than by measuring. That simplicity is part of the point's character. Where most locations ask you to triangulate between bones, Suliao simply announces itself: stand before a mirror, look straight ahead, and the spot is the small central dome at which the nose comes to its point.
What lies under the fingertip rewards a gentle approach. Press the nose tip lightly and it springs back — that firm resilience belongs to cartilage, not bone; solid bone only begins further up, at the bridge of the nose. The skin here sits directly on the cartilage with almost no cushioning between, and the tissue is exceptionally sensitive to touch, which is why the nose guards itself so promptly against anything intrusive. Just below and to either side run the rims of the nostrils, the two soft wings of the nose. All of this means self-palpation here is a matter of feather-light contact: there is no thick muscle to press through, and none should be attempted.
Within the map of the Du, or Governing Vessel — the channel classical texts describe running up the midline of the back and head, uniting all the yang meridians — Suliao holds a distinctive address. The vessel's points are numbered along its course: they climb the spine, cross the crown, and then turn downward along the centre of the face. GV24, Shenting, rests just above the midpoint of the front hairline on the forehead; GV25, Suliao, marks the nose tip; and GV26, Shuigou, waits in the philtrum groove between nose and upper lip. Suliao is thus the midline's most exposed station — the place where the great governing channel surfaces at the very prow of the face.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Begin seated in good light with a clean mirror at eye level and hands freshly washed — the nose tolerates less fuss than most sites. Look straight ahead and identify the very centre of the tip: the small dome midway between the two nostril wings, exactly on the vertical midline of the face. Rest the pad of a clean index finger there with no pressure at all, letting it simply touch. You should feel the firm, springy give of cartilage under the skin and notice that the finger sits precisely halfway between the nostrils. If you are unsure of the midline, glance at the mirror again: the finger should divide the nose tip into equal halves.
Confirmations come cheaply here because the site is so visible. Compare the sensation of touching the true centre with touching half a finger-width to either side: most people feel a faint, dull awareness at the centre and ordinary skin sensation elsewhere. Keep breathing normally while you explore — the point does not move, but your attention settles better with an easy rhythm. Sensitivity is the main adjustment: the nose tip registers far more than the shoulder or the calf, so begin lighter than feels strictly necessary and let familiarity earn a shade more pressure. A fingertip is the only instrument this site ever needs.
The classic mistakes are drift and haste. Drifting sideways lands you on the softer nostril wing, which feels pliant rather than springy and may narrow the airway slightly when pressed — slide back toward the dome until firmness returns. Haste shows up as pressing hard enough to flatten the tip, which brings no benefit and considerable discomfort. Another slip is wandering up the bridge of the nose in search of bone; finding bone means you have gone too high. Whenever orientation fogs, lift your eyes to the mirror, re-find the centre by eye, and start again slowly. The site forgives repetition and resents force.
Reading the Name: Plain Hollow
The characters carry the story. Su 素 is read sù, with a decisive falling fourth tone, and its older senses include white silk and, by extension, anything plain, unadorned, or undyed — a whiteness of simplicity rather than ornament. Liao 髎 is read liáo, a rising second tone, and belongs to the bone family of characters: dictionaries give it as the hollow places of bone, and point-names across the body use it to mark sites sitting in bony openings or depressions — the famous eight liao of the sacrum among them. Joined together, Sùliáo reads naturally as the plain hollow.
There is a quiet wit in the pairing. A name built on bony hollows has been set where no bone lies beneath the skin at all — the tip of the nose is shaped by firm cartilage, and bone only arrives higher up at the bridge. Commentators have long taken su’s plainness to suit the site itself: the nose tip is the most plainly visible, least concealed spot the face offers, bare and unadorned before the world. These are natural readings of the characters rather than quotations from any single text, and they are offered in that spirit — etymology as a way of remembering, not a doctrine to litigate.
Said aloud, Sùliáo moves fall then rise: the fourth tone drops decisively on the first syllable and the second tone lifts away on the second, giving the name a settle-and-soar cadence. The hanzi pair 素髎 is compact enough to memorise at a glance. As with gates, valleys, courtyards, and storehouses elsewhere on the channels, the metaphor performs real work: hollows are where the tradition looks for access, and naming this exposed dome a hollow invites you to treat the nose tip as a doorway rather than mere geography. The name is itself a small set of instructions.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded actions divide into two families. The first gathers complaints of the nose itself: nasal congestion, nosebleed, sinusitis, and rosacea. Read as tradition rather than promise, classical practice traditionally reached for Suliao when the nose felt blocked and heavy, treating the region as a place where qi and blood could stall; a bleed from the nose was met within the point’s own local terrain; and the flushed redness of rosacea — long known as the red-nose complaint — sat squarely at the point’s doorstep. Local troubles addressed at local addresses: this is among the oldest logic in the tradition of touch.
The second family is starkest: collapse and fainting, convulsions, infantile convulsions, and newborn asphyxia. These mark Suliao as one of the tradition’s revival points, gathered with a handful of other prominent midline sites for moments when a person’s presence seemed to withdraw. The reasoning is practical even now: the nose tip is unmistakable to find, reachable in a crowd without moving clothing, and impossible to mistake on the midline. But the framing matters enormously. These are records of emergency responses administered by trained practitioners of another era — not invitations to improvisation. Every one of these situations belongs, today and without exception, in the hands of professional emergency care.
It bears repeating plainly: these are the traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats disease, and nothing here replaces assessment by a qualified clinician. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly; hold the safety rules firmly — and hold them tighter here than at most points, because this one’s historic portfolio includes situations no household should ever manage alone.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the centre located, settle in: seated, shoulders easy, breath unhurried, hands washed. Rest the pad of one index finger on the nose tip with contact alone, and stay there through two or three slow breaths. Then add small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the firm cartilage beneath. Pressure should register as a mild, dull, even pleasant fullness — a whisper of what the shoulder tolerates comfortably is plenty for the nose. Thirty seconds to a minute is a complete session; some people repeat morning and evening. Because Suliao sits on the midline, there is no second side to balance — one careful finger, one centre, done.
Pair the practice with breath where possible: if the nose is open, let each circle ride a slow exhale through the nose; if congestion makes that uncomfortable, breathe through the mouth and keep the finger’s job purely tactile. Notice small shifts — warmth gathering under the pad, an easier awareness of airflow, a moment of stillness in a busy afternoon. Quality outranks duration everywhere in self-care, and nowhere more than here: the site’s sensitivity means force buys nothing but soreness. If a session irritates the skin or leaves tenderness behind, shorten the next one or skip a day; the practice adapts to the nose, never the reverse.
Treat the minute as a small ceremony of attention rather than a treatment. Perhaps breathing feels clearer while you press, perhaps the gesture simply returns you to your own face after hours of screens, perhaps nothing shifts beyond the noticing itself. Every one of those outcomes fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. What does not fit is escalation — harder, longer, or deeper in pursuit of a result. When curiosity pulls that way, return to gentleness or close the practice for the day. Consistency, lightly held, is the whole art.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point carries a written warning in its licensed record, and it deserves leading placement: the dataset cautions, as recorded in classical literature, that moxibustion is not to be applied here. The nose tip is thin-skinned, cartilage-backed, and close beside the nostrils — an unsuitable stage for any heat therapy, and classical authors said as much. For home readers the translation is simple: no warmed tools, no heat lamps aimed at the nose, no moxibustion of any kind at this site. Suliao is a fingertip-only point, and even the fingertip arrives softly.
Practical rules follow. Surface contact only, finger pad only, clean hands always. Skip the point entirely during a nosebleed, over broken or irritated skin around the nostrils, while an acute cold or flu leaves the nose raw, and after any nasal procedure until a clinician clears ordinary handling. Stop at once on sharp, stinging, or radiating sensation, and do not retry that day. Pregnant readers, and anyone with a condition affecting the nose or face — rosacea flares included — should check with a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice. And children, especially infants, sit entirely outside self-care here: small noses belong to trained hands only.
Over everything stands the wider rule: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt professional care — not a pressure routine — for recurrent nosebleeds, blockage that persists for weeks, facial pain or fever, worsening breathing, or any symptom that frightens you. A baby who struggles to breathe is an emergency, always, wherever in the world you are reading this. Persistent symptoms belong with a licensed practitioner, medical or East Asian medical as suits the complaint. The plainest gift Suliao offers most people is a friendlier acquaintance with their own face, treated kindly and lightly.
Suliao, often rendered Plain Hollow, sits at the very centre of the tip of the nose — the most exposed station on the whole Governing Vessel. Classical practice reached for it in emergencies and for troubled noses alike. This guide walks through finding it by sight and touch, and pressing it gently.
Cautions from the classical sources
- No moxibustion, per the classical texts.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Suliao without knowing anything about cun?
- You barely need measurements at all — this site locates by eye. Stand at a mirror, look straight ahead, and find the small central dome at the very tip of the nose, midway between the two nostril wings and exactly on the facial midline. Rest a fingertip there: firm springiness confirms the cartilage of the centre. Most points hide; this one announces itself, which is part of why old records prized it in urgent moments.
- Is pressing the tip of my own nose actually safe?
- Gentle fingertip pressure on the surface is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults, and the site’s sensitivity keeps sessions naturally short — thirty seconds of light circles is already a full practice. What the site dislikes is force, tools, heat, and persisting past discomfort. Sharp or stinging sensation means stopping at once. Skip it during a nosebleed, over broken skin, or while a cold leaves the nose raw.
- Why do the old records pair this point with emergencies like fainting?
- Classical practice kept a short roster of revival points — prominent, unmistakable midline sites that could be reached quickly in a crisis — and the nose tip heads the face group of that roster. Those were interventions by trained practitioners of their era, preserved as history. Today every faint, seizure, or breathing emergency belongs with professional emergency services; acupressure plays no role in first aid, and the records appear here for understanding, not imitation.
- Why does a Governing Vessel point sit on the face?
- The Du vessel runs up the midline of the back and head, uniting the yang meridians, and its numbered points follow that course — climbing the spine, crossing the crown, then descending the centre of the face. GV24 rests just above the front hairline, GV25 marks the nose tip, and GV26 waits in the philtrum groove. The face segment is simply the vessel’s homeward stretch along the body’s central seam.
- My baby sometimes breathes oddly — can pressing this point help?
- No, emphatically. Odd or laboured breathing in an infant is always a reason to seek urgent medical care immediately — never a reason to try pressure, which helps nothing and delays everything. The old record of newborn asphyxia describes practitioner-era emergency practice, not a home remedy. Adults may explore gentle self-care on their own noses; infants lie entirely outside that territory, without exception.
Sources
- 01aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for GV25 Suliao — location, point class, actions, and caution record.
- 02WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 03A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition and channel-course context.
Last reviewed
牌記This leaf, for machines
Old books ended with a colophon saying who printed them. Every leaf here carries the same facts as structured data for agents and search, with no layout in the way.
- GET /en/points/gv25/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/gv25/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/gv25/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "GV25",
"name": {
"en": "Suliao",
"gloss": "Plain Hollow",
"zh-Hant": "素髎",
"zh-Hans": "素髎"
},
"channel": {
"id": "GV",
"order": 25,
"of": 28
},
"location": {
"text": "At the very tip of the nose."
},
"for": [
"A blocked nose",
"sinus trouble",
"a reddened nose"
],
"press": {
"text": "Light touch with a fingertip, about a minute.",
"seconds": 60
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/gv25",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}