Yingxiang

What is LI20 (Yingxiang), and why do so many people reach for it when their nose blocks?

LI20 is the final point on the Large Intestine channel, sitting in the small groove where the outer edge of the nostril meets the cheek. Its Chinese name, Yingxiang, is usually translated as Welcome Fragrance — a name that tells you plainly what the classical tradition expected of it. When a nose is stuffed, running, or scent-blind, this is the point the old texts send you to. It has been named in Chinese medical writing for well over a thousand years and appears in essentially every standard acupuncture and acupressure curriculum taught today, which is why it sits in the highest tier of clinical-use frequency.

In traditional terms, the Large Intestine channel ends here and connects with the Stomach channel, and both are said to govern the face and the nose. Practitioners describe LI20 as "opening the nasal orifices" and dispersing wind-heat or wind-cold that has lodged in the face. In plain modern language: it is a spot people press when the sinuses feel heavy, when one nostril is welded shut on a cold night, or when hay fever makes the whole midface feel thick and tender.

What is honestly known from human trials is much thinner than the traditional record. There are small studies of acupressure and acupuncture at facial points for allergic rhinitis and sinus symptoms, and some report modest short-term improvement in congestion and quality of life — but the trials are small, hard to blind, and inconsistent in method. That is a C-grade picture at best. Nothing here treats an infection, drains a genuinely obstructed sinus, or replaces antibiotics, steroid sprays, antihistamines or a doctor's assessment. What finger pressure on LI20 may reasonably offer is a few minutes of easier breathing, some relief of that pressing ache beside the nose, and a self-care ritual you can do anywhere, for free, with no equipment. Treat it as comfort care sitting alongside whatever your clinician has advised, not instead of it.

How do I actually find LI20 on my own face?

• Start at the widest part of your nostril. Look in a mirror. Find the outer curve of one nostril — the fleshy wing, called the ala. LI20 is level with the midpoint of that curve, at its widest point, not up near the bridge and not down at the nostril opening.
• Slide sideways into the crease. Move your fingertip straight outward, away from the nostril, about half a finger-width. You will drop into the nasolabial groove — the smile line that runs from beside the nostril down toward the corner of the mouth. LI20 sits in that groove, right where it begins.
• Confirm with the smile test. Smile broadly. The crease deepens and becomes obvious. Relax again, keep your fingertip parked in the top of that deepened line, level with the widest part of the nostril. That is the spot.
• Feel for the bony shelf. Press gently inward and slightly upward. Under the soft tissue you should feel the firm edge of the upper jaw bone (maxilla). The point sits in the soft hollow just against that bone, not on the cartilage of the nose itself.
• Expect a distinctive sensation. Correctly located, LI20 usually feels notably more tender than the skin a centimetre in any direction. Many people report a dull achy fullness, a spreading feeling up toward the eye socket, or a sudden watering of that eye. Some feel the nostril tickle or open slightly.
• It is bilateral. There is one LI20 on each side of the nose. Work both, either together with index fingers or middle fingers, or one at a time — most people find two-handed symmetrical pressure easier and more comfortable.
• Common landmark errors: too high (you are on the side of the nasal bone), too low (you are near the corner of the mouth), or too medial (you are pressing the soft nostril wing shut, which just blocks the airway rather than opening it).
• If you are congested, the point is often already sore to touch — many people find it before they consciously look for it, simply because that whole strip beside the nose aches during a head cold.

What is the step-by-step way to press LI20 safely with my fingers?

1. Wash your hands and clip or clean your nails. You are working on facial skin, close to the eyes and nostrils. Clean hands matter, especially if you have an active cold and do not want to reseed it.
2. Sit upright and comfortable. Elbows supported on a table if possible. Sitting or standing is generally better than lying flat when congested, since lying down tends to increase nasal fullness.
3. Place your index or middle fingertips on both LI20 points at once, one on each side of the nose, in the crease level with the widest part of each nostril.
4. Angle the pressure inward and slightly upward — toward the opposite eyebrow, roughly — so you press against the bony shelf of the upper jaw rather than squashing the soft nostril flat. Squashing shut the nostril defeats the purpose.
5. Build pressure gradually over three to five seconds until you reach a firm, distinctly achy sensation that you would rate around 4 or 5 out of 10. This should feel like a satisfying deep pressure, never sharp, never like a burn, never anything that makes you flinch away.
6. Hold steady for 30 to 60 seconds, breathing slowly through the nose if you can, through the mouth if you cannot. Some people notice the nose loosening within this first hold; many do not, and that is normal.
7. Release slowly, rest for about 10 seconds, then repeat two or three more times.
8. Optionally add small circles. After the static holds, make small firm circles — roughly one per second, staying on the spot rather than sliding the skin around — for 30 to 60 seconds. Circling suits some people better than steady pressure.
9. Optionally add a downward stroke. A traditional add-on is to stroke firmly from the inner corner of the eye down alongside the nose to LI20, ten to twenty times, then finish with pressure on the point. This covers the whole strip beside the nose.
10. Total session: three to five minutes. Repeat two to four times a day during a congested spell. There is no benefit to marathon sessions; short and frequent is the usual pattern.
11. Steam helps it along. Many people press LI20 during or right after a warm shower, or while leaning over a bowl of hot water, because warm moist air softens the mucus that pressure alone will not shift.
12. Stop the session if the skin becomes sore, red or broken, if pain sharpens, or if you feel dizzy or lightheaded.

What might pressing LI20 actually help with, and how confident can I be?

1. Nasal congestion and blocked nostrils. This is the flagship traditional use and by far the most common reason people are taught the point. Reported relief is typically partial and short-lived — minutes to an hour or two — and works best alongside steam, fluids and whatever your clinician has recommended. Evidence: traditional record very strong, trial evidence weak.
2. The dull pressing ache beside the nose during sinus congestion. Firm pressure on tender facial tissue is a familiar, plausible source of temporary comfort, similar to rubbing a stiff neck. It does not drain a sinus and it does not treat infection.
3. Allergic rhinitis symptoms — sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose. Small clinical studies of acupressure and acupuncture at facial points including LI20 in allergic rhinitis have reported modest symptom improvement, but the trials are small and difficult to blind. Reasonable to try as an add-on to prescribed antihistamines or sprays, not as a substitute.
4. Post-nasal drip and general midface heaviness. Widely used traditionally; no meaningful trial evidence specific to this complaint.
5. Reduced sense of smell during a cold. The point's name — Welcome Fragrance — points straight at this. Traditional use is strong; controlled evidence in humans is essentially absent. Persistent smell loss after an illness needs medical assessment, not self-massage alone.
6. Nasal dryness and crusting. Massaging the strip beside the nose is a traditional comfort measure. Any relief is likely from local warmth and increased circulation.
7. Facial tension around the nose and cheeks, including the tightness some people notice after long periods of mouth-breathing or crying. Mechanistically ordinary soft-tissue relief.
8. A calming pause. Several minutes of slow breathing with your hands on your face reliably lowers arousal in many people, independent of any point-specific effect. This is genuine, but it is not evidence that LI20 in particular is doing the work.

Can regular LI20 work prevent anything, or is it purely for flare-ups?

• Honest framing first: there is no good human trial evidence that pressing LI20 prevents colds, sinus infections or allergy seasons. Anyone promising that is overselling. What follows is traditional practice and reasonable habit-building, labelled as such.
• Daily facial routine in allergy season. Traditional self-care manuals recommend a short daily massage of the nose-side strip, including LI20, through the weeks when pollen is high. Plausible benefit is mainly comfort and earlier awareness of building congestion.
• Reducing reliance on decongestant sprays. Some people use an LI20 session as a first response before reaching for an over-the-counter spray. Because rebound congestion from overusing topical decongestants is a genuine problem, having a harmless alternative to reach for first can be useful. Never stop a prescribed medication to do this.
• Heading off the night-time block. A short session before bed, after a warm shower, is a common preventive habit for people whose congestion worsens when they lie down.
• Building an early-warning habit. Regularly touching the point makes you familiar with how your own face normally feels, so unusual tenderness, swelling or one-sided pain gets noticed sooner and reported sooner.
• Supporting, not replacing, the basics. Prevention of sinus trouble runs mostly on unglamorous things: hydration, saline rinses if your clinician approves them, humidified air, avoiding known allergens, treating reflux and dental problems, and not smoking. LI20 sits on top of that list, never in place of it.
• What it will not prevent: bacterial sinusitis, nasal polyps, a deviated septum, chronic rhinosinusitis, or any structural problem. Recurrent sinus infections deserve a proper workup.

What practical tips make LI20 work better in real life?

• Pair it with heat and moisture. The single most useful adjustment most people make is doing their LI20 session in a steamy bathroom or over a bowl of warm water. Mucus that has thickened will not move under finger pressure alone.
• Work both sides at once. Symmetrical two-finger pressure is easier to sustain, keeps your head from tilting, and feels more balanced.
• Angle matters more than force. Pressing inward against the maxilla is the productive direction. Pressing straight backward into soft tissue mostly just closes the nostril. If it is not working, change the angle before you increase the pressure.
• Add the neighbours. Traditional practice often combines LI20 with the point in the notch between the eyebrows, the hollows either side of the bridge of the nose at the inner eye corners, and the web between thumb and index finger. A short circuit of these takes five minutes.
• Blow your nose afterwards, gently. Some people find loosened secretions clear more easily right after a session. Blow one nostril at a time and never forcefully.
• Short and frequent beats long and rare. Three or four brief sessions across a day usually gives more total comfort than one long grinding one.
• Watch your skin. Facial skin is thin. If you are prone to acne, rosacea or eczema around the nose, use clean fingers, moderate pressure, and stop if the area reddens or stings.
• Keep a two-week note. Jot down congestion severity before and 15 minutes after each session for a fortnight. If you see nothing at all, you have your answer and can spend that time on something that does help you.
• Do it seated and upright when possible; lying down worsens congestion for many people and muddies your read on whether the pressure helped.
• Set expectations low and specific. Aim for "one nostril opened for twenty minutes", not "my sinusitis is cured". The point is comfort, not cure.

What do people most often get wrong with LI20?

• Pressing on the nostril itself. The most common error. If you feel soft springy cartilage and your breathing gets worse, you have slid inward off the point. Move outward into the crease until you feel bone underneath.
• Aiming too high. Beside the bridge of the nose, level with the inner eye corner, is a different point entirely. LI20 is level with the widest part of the nostril, lower than most beginners guess.
• Using far too much force. Facial tissue is thin and this point is naturally tender when you are congested. Grinding hard produces bruising, sore skin and sometimes a headache — not faster relief. Firm and achy, never sharp.
• Digging with a fingernail. Use the fleshy pad of the fingertip. Nails scratch, break skin, and near the nostril that is an infection risk.
• Sliding the skin around instead of holding the point. Rubbing the surface back and forth chafes the skin without reaching the tissue underneath. Anchor the fingertip and let the skin move with it.
• Dirty hands. You are inches from your nostrils and eyes during a respiratory illness. Wash first, every time.
• Doing it once and concluding it does not work. Give it a genuine trial — a few sessions a day across several days — before deciding.
• Doing it endlessly and concluding it must work. Twenty-minute sessions do not multiply the benefit; they mostly bruise you.
• Treating it as a substitute. Skipping a prescribed antibiotic, steroid spray, antihistamine or asthma medication because you are "doing the point" is the single most harmful mistake available here. It is an addition, never a replacement.
• Ignoring warning signs. High fever, severe or one-sided facial pain, swelling or redness around the eye, vision changes, confusion, or symptoms that steadily worsen past ten days are reasons to see a clinician, not reasons to press harder.
• Working over broken or infected skin. Cold sores, active acne lesions, dermatitis or wounds beside the nose should be left alone until healed.

What does the research and practical experience actually show?

The traditional record for LI20 is deep and consistent. It appears in the classical acupuncture canon, it is taught in every modern curriculum, and it is one of the first points a student learns for nasal complaints — the highest tier of clinical-use frequency, with a name that has advertised its function for centuries. Practitioners in East Asia and worldwide use it daily for congestion, rhinitis and loss of smell, and self-massage of the nose-side strip is common folk practice in many households. That consistency across time and geography is real information about tradition. It is not, by itself, information about efficacy.

The human trial record is much thinner. There are small randomised and controlled studies of acupuncture and of acupressure for allergic rhinitis and for sinus symptoms in which LI20 is one of several points used; some report modest short-term improvement in nasal symptom scores and quality of life compared with no treatment, and less clear separation from sham or placebo pressure. Sample sizes tend to be small, treatment protocols vary widely, blinding is genuinely difficult when someone is being touched on the face, and self-reported congestion is a soft outcome highly responsive to expectation. Finger-pressure-only trials isolating LI20 are rarer still. The result is a C grade: some supportive signal, low certainty, no basis for promising an outcome to any individual reader.

What can be said fairly is this. LI20 is anatomically easy to find, requires no equipment, costs nothing, and carries very little risk when done with clean hands and moderate pressure. Some people report their nose loosening within a minute of firm bilateral pressure; others report nothing at all. Both experiences are common and neither settles the question. The sensible stance for a curious adult is to try it as comfort care during a congested spell, keep expectations modest and time-limited, judge it on your own two-week record rather than on anyone's claims, and keep every prescribed treatment and medical appointment exactly where it is. No study cited here, and none that exists, supports treating acupressure as a cure for sinusitis or as a reason to delay care for an infection that is not settling.