Formulas · Release the Exterior 解表 · Gogeum Uigam (古今醫鑑)

Duckweed Powder (Sores Formula)

Bupyeong-san

한글 부평산 · Pinyin Fu Ping San

浮萍散

A different prescription from the 浮萍散 of 回春 registered as bupyeong-san, which is shade-dried duckweed alone, dusted on a prolapsed rectum. The two share a name and the chief drug only.

Composition 構成

Bupyeong Fu Ping
浮萍 부평 · Duckweed

160 g
Chief 君

4 nyang
Danggwi Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

8 g
Deputy 臣

2 don
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

8 g
Deputy 臣

2 don
Jeokjagyak Chi Shao
赤芍藥 적작약 · Red Peony

8 g
Deputy 臣

2 don
Hyeonggae Jing Jie
荊芥 형개 · Schizonepeta

8 g
Assistant 佐

荊芥穗 — the spikes, 2 don
Mahwang Ma Huang
麻黃 마황 · Ephedra

8 g
Assistant 佐

2 don
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

8 g
Envoy 使

2 don
Chongbaek Cong Bai
蔥白 총백 · Scallion White

—
Envoy 使

3 stalks
Damdusi Dan Dou Chi
淡豆豉 담두시 · Prepared Soybean

—
Envoy 使

60 beans

Total g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats all the scabies and tineas, and leprous sores
Cut up and divided into two packets, decocted with scallion white and fermented soybean, and drunk to bring out a sweat

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

諸疥癬 — all the scabies and tineas
癩瘡 — leprous sores

Biomedical correlates

Widespread scabies or dermatophytosis — historical internal treatment
Chronic ulcerating skin disease, Hansen's disease among them — historical internal treatment

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治諸疥癬及癩瘡. 浮萍四兩, 當歸ㆍ川芎ㆍ赤芍藥ㆍ荊芥穗ㆍ麻黃ㆍ甘草各二錢. 右剉, 分作二貼, 入葱白三莖, 豆豉六十箇, 同煎服, 出汗. 《醫鑑》

Translation

Treats all the scabies and tineas, and leprous sores. Duckweed 4 nyang, angelica root, chuanxiong, red peony, schizonepeta spikes, ephedra and liquorice 2 don each. Cut them up and divide into two packets; add three stalks of scallion white and sixty fermented soybeans, decoct them together and drink, so that a sweat comes out. — Gogeum Uigam 醫鑑 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

A sweating formula, and it says so: 同煎服出汗, decoct and drink so that a sweat comes out. Duckweed at 4 nyang against 2 don of everything else is the whole weight of the prescription, with ephedra, scallion white and fermented soybean behind it to force the pores — that triad is the old cold-damage sweating method borrowed wholesale — and angelica, chuanxiong and red peony to move the blood underneath. The logic is that a skin disease over the whole body is wind and damp held in the surface, and that opening the pores lets it out. It is the opposite approach to the rubs and plasters around it in this section, which is why the leaf is worth having. 癩瘡 in the indication reaches past scabies to Hansen's disease, which no sweating method touches. **Contains ephedra, which is a sympathomimetic: it raises blood pressure and heart rate and is unsafe in cardiovascular disease, and is a controlled substance in many jurisdictions.** A forced sweat in a patient with extensive broken skin also risks fluid loss and infection. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.