Pricking bloodletting (Cìluò) cì luò fàng xuè · 刺络放血

A classical external method in which a sterile lancet or three-edged needle is used to make a quick, shallow prick at a selected point so that a few drops of blood emerge. The classical rationale comes from the Huangdi Neijing: where there is accumulation and stagnation, remove it through the luo vessels. It is described in the classics for conditions of "heat" and "stagnation", and it is historically distinct from the large-volume wet cupping traditions of other cultures.

This is a skin-breaking procedure. Infection control, single-use instruments and trained hands are not optional extras — they are the procedure. It is unsuitable over broken skin, and people on anticoagulants or with bleeding or blood-borne conditions should not receive it. Red flags such as fever, spreading redness or unexplained bruising belong with a physician, not a lancet.