Q. Why is it possible to get non-face-to-face diet herbal medicine prescriptions even if I live in a small or medium-sized city?

There are two main reasons non-face-to-face herbal medicine prescriptions are possible even for residents of small and medium-sized cities. First, among the four diagnostic methods of Korean medicine—inspection, listening/smelling, questioning, and palpation—questioning (inquiry) carries the greatest weight. Especially for diet herbal medicine, it is crucial to understand overall lifestyle patterns such as eating habits, digestion, bowel movements, sleep, cold sensitivity, and edema. This information can be obtained quite accurately through video calls and systematic questionnaires alone. Second, under medical law, non-face-to-face treatment is generally restricted for first visits but allowed for patients with prior visit records or follow-ups. At Baekrokdam Korean Medicine Clinic, we guide first-time patients to visit a nearby affiliated clinic or, after consultation, come directly if needed. From a Korean medicine perspective, obesity is often due to spleen qi deficiency (weak spleen function) or phlegm-fluid retention (unnecessary moisture and waste in the body). Such pathologies can be largely inferred from patient self-reports, making non-face-to-face treatment effective. However, complex cases requiring pulse diagnosis or abdominal palpation still require in-person visits, so we provide guidance based on each situation.