Analyzing your face to reveal the status of your overall health

By Meagan Radigan

It is no secret that life can be stressful. Many techniques we use to look and feel healthy throughout the year tend to get neglected the busier we get, especially around the holidays. You may find yourself looking in the mirror and wondering why the dark circles, dryness, and breakouts – among many things – on your face are getting worse despite your best efforts to keep them at bay. Before you spend your hard-earned holiday bonuses on expensive skincare, you may want to start with a simple ancient technique to help you figure out what may be a possible cause of your skincare woes. 

Face mapping, also known as mien shiang or “face reading,” has been used for more than 3,000 years across the globe as an Ayurvedic guide to discovering the possible imbalances within the body that are reflected through our skin. If you ever think something in your body “feels off,” you should certainly consult with your health care provider, but face mapping may help you be better prepared for when you have that discussion.

Any number of internal and external factors – along with excess oil, bacteria, hormones, and pores clogged with an abundance of skin cells – can be responsible for different types of acne. For those that believe that their issues remain rooted deeper within the body, face mapping is often looked at as a great first step in your personal investigation of skin health.

The face mapping technique connects certain sections of your face to different areas of your body to help you decipher the cause or connection of potential skin concerns.

Forehead

The forehead is known to represent the bladder and intestines. Most often these breakouts can signal UTIs and irritable bowels, as well as digestion issues in general. Making a conscious effort to eliminate hair products that may be irritating your skin is a great first step, as is increasing good bacteria in your gut through food and supplementation. Drinking more water and eliminating alcohol, sugar, and fatty foods may reduce the occurrence of breakouts in the forehead area.

Between the eyes or temples

Still within the stomach region, breakouts and dryness between the eyes can be seen as a signal that your kidneys and liver are being overworked. Are you adding more toxins than usual to your diet (including alcohol) or eating later at night? Getting plenty of sleep, reducing dairy, eliminating processed and heavy foods, drinking less alcohol, and increasing healthy exercise have been known to reduce breakouts in this area.

Nose

Those who may have circulatory, blood pressure, or heart issues could notice they tend to have an abundance of oiliness and acne along their nose. Imbalances in the kidneys and liver have also been known to show up around the nose, so try cutting back on after-work cocktails and spicy foods. With permission from your doctor, discuss introducing temperate foods that aren’t too hot or cold, green tea, or even chlorella into your diet for potential help with this area.

Cheeks

Lungs and respiratory issues often expose themselves through our cheeks, but the first steps to balancing breakouts in this area could be as simple as keeping sheets and pillowcases clean, wiping our cell phone screens, and removing daily skin pollutants through thorough cleansing. Environmental fixes like introducing air cleaning plants into your home or adding an air purifier may also help keep those pesky cheek pimples at bay.

Chin/Jawline

The chin and jawline are known to be one of the first places that hormone imbalances within our body rear their ugly head. Women may notice that breakouts in this area coincide with their monthly cycles, but if your acne becomes unmanageable throughout the month or is overly bothersome, you may want to get your hormones tested and speak with your doctor or dermatologist to investigate it further.

The technique of face mapping has gone by many names over time and can provide insight into multiple areas of the body. With a little self-reflection and some minor changes, you and your health care provider may be able to unlock the answer to potential ailments through something as simple as looking in the mirror.