Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Uibang Yuchwi (醫方類聚)

Navel Plaster

Cheopje-go

한글 첩제고 · Pinyin Tie Qi Gao

貼臍膏

Kansui is toxic and is here applied externally only. Kansui and licorice are a classical incompatible pair, which is why the licorice is taken separately by mouth while the kansui stays on the skin.

Composition 構成

Gamsu Gan Sui
甘遂 감수 · Kansui (toxic)

—
Chief 君

powdered and made into a paste with wheat flour — external use on the navel only · toxic
Baengmyeon Bai Mian
白麪 백면 · White Wheat Flour

—
Envoy 使

wheat flour
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

—
Envoy 使

a licorice decoction taken by mouth separately

Total 0 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 3 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 both passages not passing

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Obstruction of both passages

Biomedical correlates

Faecal impaction
Urinary retention

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治大小便不通. 甘遂爲末, 麵調作糊, 貼臍中及臍下硬處, 別煎甘草湯服之, 以通爲度. 《類聚》

Translation

Treats both passages not passing. Powder kansui and stir it with wheat flour into a paste; apply it to the navel and to the hard place below the navel, and separately decoct licorice and take that by mouth, until it passes. — Uibang Yuchwi 類聚 (Donguibogam · Daebyeon)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The arrangement is deliberate and ingenious: kansui outside, licorice inside, and the two never meet. Kansui and licorice are one of the classical incompatible pairs, so giving them together by mouth is forbidden — here the purgative acts from the skin over the palpable mass while the licorice protects the stomach from within. Transdermal kansui will not purge a bowel, but the reasoning about the incompatibility is exact, and applying the plaster over the hard place below the navel means somebody was palpating the abdomen. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.