Question
I noticed a small piece of tongue coating has fallen off at the base of the tongue. Today, I’ve noticed that the area has expanded, and it’s about the size of an adult’s thumb pad. Lately, the baby doesn’t want to eat, taking zinc in the morning and calcium at night, along with Qi Pi Wan. They always love to rub their nose…
Answer
Partial or complete loss of tongue coating is known as desquamated coating. Complete loss indicates exhaustion of stomach Yin and great damage to stomach Qi; partial loss with an uneven surface is called peeled coating, indicating both stomach Qi and Yin are injured; if the surface is uneven with new granules, it is called granular peeled coating, indicating discontinuity of the patient’s Qi and blood; if most of it has fallen off and only a small piece remains, it is called a chicken heart tongue, indicating a great deficiency of stomach Qi and Yin. The transition from tongue coating to no coating shows insufficient stomach Qi and Yin, with the vital Qi gradually declining; if it changes from no coating to a thin white coating, the condition is improving. It is recommended to use traditional Chinese medicine for opsonize, consult pulse diagnosis to prescribe medicine, and differentiate symptoms for treatment.