Formulas · Invigorate Blood 活血祛瘀 · Uihak Immun (醫學入門)

Tortoise Shell Powder

Gugak-san

한글 구각산 · Pinyin Gui Ke San

龜殼散

Composition 構成

Gupan Gui Ban
龜板 구판 · Tortoise Plastron

—
Chief 君

龜殼, one shell
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

40 g
Deputy 臣
Danggui Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

40 g
Deputy 臣
Baldu Tou Fa
頭髮 발두 · Human Hair

—
Deputy 臣

a handful, charred (存性)

Total 80 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

Opens the crossed bones in a long obstructed labour

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

A difficult birth long drawn out and near death; a small-statured woman whose crossed bones will not open

Biomedical correlates

Cephalopelvic disproportion

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治産難日久垂死, 及矮石女子交骨不開者. 龜殼一箇, 生男女婦人頭髮一握(燒存性), 川芎ㆍ當歸各一兩. 右爲末, 每三錢, 水煎服, 良久, 生胎死胎俱下. 《入門》

Translation

Treats a difficult birth long drawn out and near death, and a small-statured woman whose crossed bones will not open. One tortoise shell; a handful of the hair of a woman who has borne both sons and daughters, burnt preserving its nature; chuanxiong and angelica 1 nyang each. Powder them and take 3 don at a time decocted in water; after a good while, living foetus or dead, both come down. — Uihak Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Buin)

Clinical commentary 臨床

交骨不開 — the crossed bones not opening — is the pubic symphysis failing to give, and 矮石女子, a woman of small stature, names the constitution that goes with it. What is being described is cephalopelvic disproportion, and the chapter identifies it accurately. Tortoise shell is chosen because the shell opens at its seams; the hair is taken from a woman who has delivered successfully of both sexes. Both are resemblance choices. **Cephalopelvic disproportion requires caesarean delivery. No medicine opens the pelvis.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.