The Medical Value of the Household Hair Dryer

Recently my wife developed various uncomfortable symptoms, probably from using fans and air conditioning too much in summer. She became averse to cold and wind, and after a whole night’s sleep still felt utterly fatigued in the morning, with aching joints, peri-shoulder pain, a stiff neck with difficulty turning, and marked weakness when moving. A recent physical examination also found a slightly elevated basophil percentage; I checked the medical literature, and this index may even be related to blood disorders. Fortunately, after consulting a chief physician of internal medicine, she told me that my wife’s value was only 1.2% above normal and had no clinical significance; she thought my wife’s condition might be rheumatic.

From the perspective of TCM pattern differentiation, her condition should belong to the Guizhi Plus Gegen Tang pattern, a Taiyang disease. Unfortunately, my wife has always been unable to tolerate taking Chinese herbal decoctions—she vomits them up. Moxibustion helps, but not quickly enough.

So I used a hair dryer to solve her problem. I followed her Taiyang meridian with the hair dryer, from the back of the head to the cervical spine, and then along the spine, blowing the entire vertebral column again and again, until she broke a slight sweat. Afterward I also blew her arms and both feet, and blew around every joint. After more than half an hour of this, she felt her whole body relaxed and her symptoms were much relieved. After several consecutive sessions, the illness was cured without medicine.

In early 2020, when COVID-19 had just broken out, a fellow townsman of mine who studied biology was in Wuhan. At that time the medical system in Wuhan was severely overwhelmed. He had fever and aversion to cold, and on Lunar New Year’s Eve he was very weak. He holds a postdoctoral degree in biology and also worked in a hospital, but under the circumstances there was no medicine to be had and no way to be admitted; he truly had no alternative but to ask me for advice. I prescribed several Chinese patent medicines, but unfortunately he did not have them at home, the pharmacies near his home were also out of stock at that time, and Wuhan was under lockdown—there was truly no way out.

I then guided him to save himself with the hair dryer at home: blow along the Taiyang meridian with the hair dryer, supplemented by the hot air from the bathroom heater. After sweating several times in this way, his illness was suddenly cured.

TCM holds that when the human body falls ill, it is influenced by six external causes: wind, cold, dryness, dampness, summerheat and fire, which TCM names the "six excesses". Wind and cold first attack the person’s Taiyang meridian; the Taiyang is the great yang of the body and the first barrier against external evil. Once the Taiyang meridian is breached, the pathogenic evil easily penetrates to deeper levels.

When the Taiyang meridian is attacked by wind-cold, what method should be used for treatment? The "acrid-warm exterior-releasing method" should be used. By this is meant formulas composed of herbs with acrid-warm medicinal properties, such as Guizhi (Cinnamon twig) and Mahuang (Ephedra), to expel the wind-cold evil from the body; by the assistance of the medicinal force, the patient is helped to sweat, and once sweating occurs the disease is resolved.

The principle of my method of treating illness with a hair dryer is the same as that of the TCM acrid-warm exterior-releasing method. TCM treatment follows the sequence of "principle, method, formula, herb": the method is established from the principle. As long as the principle of treatment is understood, various methods can achieve the same therapeutic aim; one need not be rigidly bound to using only formulas or moxibustion. Moreover, the hair dryer dispels cold and releases the exterior much faster than taking decoctions or moxibustion; most patients can accept hair-dryer therapy, whereas quite a few cannot tolerate oral decoctions, acupuncture or moxibustion.

Based on this principle, combined with the TCM theory of meridians and acupoints, we can use the hair dryer to treat many deficiency-cold diseases and to relieve various painful conditions. I am now even trying to use the hair dryer to address cancer pain in some patients. This treatment is low in cost, easy to operate, hygienic, safe and effective, and worth recommending.

Patients who wish to use a hair dryer to relieve various ailments may refer to small books such as moxibustion manuals: blow along the meridians and acupoints with the hair dryer. Whatever therapeutic effect moxibustion can achieve at the various meridians and acupoints, the hair dryer can achieve the same, because the underlying principle is heat therapy. Moreover, the hair dryer works faster, is more economical, and produces no irritating odor.