Chapter 711: Great Pressure

Chapter 711: Chapter 711: Great Pressure

As Li Xu’s fame spread, more and more patients came, drawn by his reputation.

In fact, more than half the patients at the clinic came from out of town, some even traveling by plane or high-speed rail from other provinces just to see him.

Local patients, on the other hand, had become less common.

After all, Li Xu now held several positions and was often away from the clinic.

Unless they had a difficult and complicated case, local residents wouldn’t wait around indefinitely for him.

"Have a seat."

Li Xu motioned for the two to sit down, then looked at the girl, who still had her head down. "You’re here for the acne on your face, right?"

The girl’s body stiffened slightly, but she didn’t speak.

"Yes, it’s these wretched pimples."

The girl’s mother said, her voice filled with distress, "My daughter has had this acne for two or three years now. It started when she was a freshman in high school. At first, we thought it was just normal teenage acne, but it just kept getting worse, with new ones popping up one after another."

"She’s a senior this year, and the academic pressure is already immense. And then there’s her face... We’ve taken her to the dermatology departments of several major hospitals, and even to beauty clinics for ’therapeutic skin care’ and ’red and blue light therapy.’ We’ve spent a lot of money, but nothing has worked. In fact, it’s shown clear signs of getting worse these past few months."

"Dr. Li, you see, for a young girl to have a face like this, it’s bound to affect her. She used to be such a cheerful child, but now she doesn’t like to go out or even talk much. She’s even afraid to look in the mirror."

Indeed,

for a girl her age, this was the time when appearance mattered most.

This was especially true for high school students, who were in the sensitive phase of adolescence. Kids this age were particularly conscious of their looks.

Boys wanted to be handsome, and girls wanted to be beautiful.

The acne on the girl’s face had completely ruined her original features.

In reality, if one looked past the red, swollen pimples, the girl had a classic oval-shaped face with delicate features.

Without the acne, she would undoubtedly be the very picture of a budding beauty.

Unfortunately, the mass of red bumps covering her face concealed her natural beauty.

Because the acne was so dense, some of the red rashes had already become purulent and nodular, forming cysts that were rather unsettling to look at.

’Going to school looking like this, many of her classmates probably keep their distance out of misunderstanding, right?’

’Plus, at that age, some kids speak without a filter. There were probably classmates who gave her nasty nicknames behind her back.’

’Over time, a situation like this could truly turn a once cheerful and lively girl into someone introverted, insecure, and even withdrawn.’

"Here, place your hand here. I’m going to take your pulse."

Li Xu said reassuringly, "It’s not a major problem. Don’t be so nervous."

The girl relaxed a little and extended her arm.

Li Xu placed three fingers on the girl’s wrist, concentrating on the diagnosis.

"How are your bowel movements and urination normally?"

Hearing the sudden question, the girl grew embarrassed and instinctively glanced at her mother.

For a girl of her age, already in a state of extreme insecurity, being asked about such private matters as bowel movements by a young male doctor felt rather humiliating.

"Just answer whatever the doctor asks," her mother said quickly, seeing her daughter’s hesitation. "This is a consultation. You must never hide anything from the doctor."

The girl’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. "Urination is fine... but my stools are always rather dry. Sometimes I only go once every two or three days."

"Besides the rash on your face, do you experience anything else? For example, any discomfort, or do you get irritable and lose your temper easily?"

Li Xu continued to ask gently.

"It’s just... I often feel very restless inside. Nothing seems right, and I don’t have the patience for my homework," the girl replied in a low voice.

"How are your periods?"

Li Xu’s questions delved deeper. "Are they regular, or do they often come early or late? Is the flow heavy? What about the color?"

The girl’s face, already reddish from the acne, now blushed to the roots of her ears. "They... they always come early. And... the flow is quite heavy, and the color is a bit dark."

After asking a few key questions,

Li Xu finished taking her pulse, then had the girl open her mouth so he could carefully examine her tongue coating.

The edges and tip of her tongue were very red, and her tongue coating was white with a greasy quality. The pulse presented the distinct characteristics of being "wiry, slippery, and rapid."

"Facial flushing, a bright red rash accompanied by pustules that are painful to the touch..."

Li Xu withdrew his hand and began to explain her condition. "A red tongue tip and edges, a wiry, slippery, and rapid pulse. Dry stools, and early, heavy periods. All these symptoms combined are a clear signal in Chinese medicine—a ’heat pattern’."

"A wiry and rapid pulse often indicates stagnant heat. Moreover, the Xian Vein is associated with the liver and is commonly seen in cases of liver qi stagnation."

"Looking at the combination of your pulse and symptoms, your condition is primarily characterized by an ’accumulation of toxic heat’."

Li Xu looked at the girl and said earnestly, "Clinically, severe adolescent acne is often a surface manifestation of ’stagnant heat in the blood division.’

Therefore, the fundamental treatment shouldn’t be just applying things to your face, but should start from the ’blood division’ to clear heat and cool the blood."

"I heard your mother say you’re a senior in high school.

The pressure from your studies and life is indeed immense, and you have many aspirations.

The heavy workload, your parents’ expectations, relationships with classmates... when things don’t go your way or you face setbacks, it’s easy to bottle things up, overthink, and let your mind run wild."

"In Chinese medicine, it’s said that ’excessive worry harms the spleen, while depression and anger harm the liver.’ Chronic mental stress can lead to an obstruction of qi flow. When qi stagnates, blood stasis occurs, and this stagnation generates heat within the body."

"On top of that, young people today tend to favor spicy and stimulating foods, as well as rich and greasy things like fried chicken and milk tea. When you eat these things, they accumulate and transform into heat in the body.

This ’internal heat’ builds up inside you without a proper way to be released. It then presses inward on the ying-blood, transfers to the blood division, and forms ’blood heat’."

"And the head and face are what we call the ’confluence of all yang meridians’ in the human body.

Fire, by its nature, flares upward, and like attracts like.

This stagnant heat and toxic qi inside your body can easily surge up to your head and face along the meridians, eventually erupting and forming the acne all over your face."

Li Xu’s detailed pathological analysis was not just for the girl to hear, but more importantly, for her mother and the others present.

First, it was to make the patient and her family understand, to let them know the true origin of the illness.

Only by knowing the cause could they change their lifestyle habits while taking the medicine, which was the only way to eradicate the root of the problem.

Even if they couldn’t remember all the technical terms right away, hearing it multiple times would give them some understanding of the logic behind Chinese medicine’s approach to treatment, preventing them from blindly wasting money at beauty clinics again.

Second, Li Xu knew someone was live-streaming.

He was also using this opportunity to let the tens of thousands of viewers in the live stream listen in and understand the thought process behind a real Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment.