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

I was initially skeptical about non-face-to-face herbal prescriptions, but after some experience, I realized that diet herbal medicine focuses more on chronic constitution improvement than acute illness. In Western medicine, obesity is a chronic condition (e.g., metabolic syndrome), so telemedicine is permitted for follow-ups and counseling. In Traditional Korean Medicine, prescribing diet herbs involves pattern differentiation (辨證), where we assess the patient's overall state—such as deficiency/excess (虛實) and cold/heat (寒熱)—and over 80% of that information comes from inquiry (問診). For example, spleen deficiency (脾虛) causing poor digestion and cold intolerance, or phlegm-fluid (痰飮) leading to phlegmy cough and white tongue coating, can be deduced from reported symptoms and tongue photos. Of course, we lose direct pulse diagnosis (脈診), which is a hallmark of TKM. However, for diet herbal medicine, factors like lifestyle, eating patterns, bowel movements, and sleep quality influence prescribing more than pulse findings. Thus, remote pattern differentiation can achieve a similar accuracy to in-person visits. The main advantage is that patients in smaller cities, who may lack nearby Korean medicine clinics or have busy schedules, can receive consistent follow-up, boosting adherence. The downside is missing subtle changes detectable through pulse and abdominal examination (腹診), but we compensate with thorough consultations, detailed questionnaires, and photo/video submissions. In essence, diet herbal medicine suits telemedicine because its progress is gradual and symptom-driven, making it accessible regardless of location.