skin problems

Skin Disease: Categorization of External Treatment Formulas

By Gory ⋅ June 6, 2009 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

1 Solutions (溶液):

This category is epitomized by salt solution. Salt solution is the perfect means of cleaning, astringing new wounds that have serous or suppurative exudate. It can reduce inflammation, even indirectly by means of inhibiting further infection.

Solutions are like decoctions (汤药), except they are not for oral consumption. Use the liquid either as a wet compress (湿敷/浸渍zi) or as a hot wash (熏洗). Compresses are great acute injuries with swelling, exudate (渗出) and erosion (糜烂).

2 Powders (粉剂/散剂):

Think of powders as what you might use a powder for when you have allergic skin reactions e.g. contact dermatitis, to food or to the environment. These inflammations of the skin are usually non-exudative (无渗液性) and are in the acute or subacute phase. Powders also help keep the lesion dry.

3 Washes (洗剂/混悬剂/悬垂剂):

Think of these washes as liquid versions of the powders. What’s useful is that you can alter the alter the function of the washes by altering or modifying the powders thrown in.

4 Liniment (酊剂):

Tinctures and liniments are made by throwing herbs into alcohol, in which their essential ingredients are extracted. In the west, some people may call what you drink a tincture and what you rub externally a liniment. In fact, there might even be a difference in alcohol used: ethyl-alcohol vs. rubbing alcohol. But in Liniments are useful against fungal growths (tinea) but can be used in treating neurodermatitis too.

Don’t use them on open wounds.

5 Oil-based Ointments (油剂)

Used on open wounds, they provide moisturization and protection.

Oil-based ointments (油剂) can be made by:

• deep-frying the herbs in vegetable oil
• mixing vegetable oil with herb powders to create a gooey paste

While a variety of oils including peanut oil, tea-seed oil can be used, sesame oil is the most popular, because it is cooling and moisturizing.

Note how this is similar to an oil infusion in the West where olive oil is the carrier in which the herbs are soaked for some time before being taken out.

6 Creams (软膏):

Creams are used on all types of chronic skin lesions to provide a protective and moisturizing effect. If the lesion is crusty (结痂) or chapped (皲裂), salves are useful.

In the West, we have salves where beeswax and vegetable oils both form the base, beeswax to make it more solid, vegetable oils to make it more fluid.

With creams aka ruangao (软膏), you don’t use vegetable oils as the base. Instead, vaseline (凡士林), animal fats (动物脂), honey (蜂蜜) or beeswax (蜂蜡) is used. Creams as described here will end up with a texture slightly different than the oil-based ointments mentioned earlier.

Creams are used in a variety of ways:

• applied on bandage before bandaging the lesion
• applied right after the crust has been taken off – it’s like a protective layer here
• on chapped (皲裂) lesions or lesions with moss-like (苔藓样) granulation tissue (肉芽组织) – in this case, it may even be appropriate to heat up the cream so as to facilitate absorption

Not to be used in the acute phase when there is alot of exudate or erosion. Creams are best suited for the final part of the healing process – to help protect and provide moisture as the wound finally closes.

(Note: “Cream” is just a good enough translation when ruangao literally means “soft ointment.”

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