Formulas · External Application 外用 · Seui Deukhyobang (世醫得效方)

Lead Carbonate Powder

Hobun-san

한글 호분산 · Pinyin Hu Fen San

胡粉散

羊蹄根, dock root, is registered in the herb list but is deliberately not entered as an ingredient here — it is the applicator, the root dipped in vinegar and rubbed over the lesion before the powder goes on, not a material of the powder. The vinegar it is dipped in is entered. 蝎梢, the scorpion tail, is entered under the headword 全蠍. 一錢二分半 is a quarter of 5 don, printed as the transcription has it.

Composition 構成

Hobun Hu Fen
胡粉 호분 · White Lead (toxic)

10 g
Chief 君

2 don 5 pun · lead carbonate
Yuhwang Liu Huang
硫黃 유황 · Sulphur

10 g
Chief 君

2 don 5 pun
Unghwang Xiong Huang
雄黃 웅황 · Realgar

10 g
Deputy 臣

2 don 5 pun · arsenic sulfide
Bisang Pi Shuang
砒礵 비상 · Arsenic Trioxide

5 g
Deputy 臣

1 don 2 pun 5 ri · arsenic
Choo Cao Wu
草烏 초오 · Wild Aconite

—
Assistant 佐

大草烏, one large raw tuber (生) · aconite, toxic
Banmyo Ban Mao
斑猫 반묘 · Blister Beetle

—
Assistant 佐

1 · cantharidin, a blistering agent
Jeongal Quan Xie
全蠍 전갈 · Scorpion (toxic)

—
Assistant 佐

蝎梢, 7 scorpion tails · toxic
Sahyang She Xiang
麝香 사향 · Musk (prohibited)

—
Envoy 使

a little · CITES
Cho Cu
醋 초 · Vinegar

—
Envoy 使

醋 — vinegar, for dipping the dock root used to rub the patch first

Total g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 5 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 tinea, said to be marvellously effective
Dock root dipped in vinegar is first rubbed over the patch to open it, and a little of the powder then rubbed in

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

癬 — tinea

Biomedical correlates

Tinea corporis — historical topical
Chronic scaling plaque — historical topical

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治癬神效. 胡粉ㆍ硫黃ㆍ雄黃各二錢半, 砒礵一錢二分半, 大草烏(生) 一箇, 斑猫一箇, 蝎梢七枚, 麝香少許. 右爲末, 先以羊蹄根蘸醋擦動患處, 次用藥少許擦之. 《得效》

Translation

Treats tinea, marvellously effective. Lead carbonate, sulphur and realgar 2 don 5 pun each, arsenolite 1 don 2 pun 5 ri, one large raw wild aconite tuber, one blister beetle, seven scorpion tails, a little musk. Powder them. First dip dock root in vinegar and rub it over the affected place to open it, then take a little of the powder and rub it in. — Seui Deukhyobang 得效 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The most dangerous powder in the 疥癬 section, and the method makes it worse: dock root soaked in vinegar is rubbed over the patch first 擦動, to work it loose, and the powder is then rubbed into the abraded surface. Lead, arsenic sulfide, arsenolite, aconite, cantharides and scorpion, applied to skin that has deliberately been broken. Sulphur is the only ingredient with a defensible action on a fungal plaque. The others are there on the logic that a stubborn 癬 needs a drug fierce enough to overcome it, which is the reasoning that governs this whole section. **Contains arsenolite and realgar, which are arsenic, lead carbonate, wild aconite, blister beetle and scorpion. This whole preparation is one we would not reproduce under any circumstances.** Arsenic and lead are absorbed through broken skin and cantharidin is lethal in small amounts; deliberately abrading the skin first removes the only barrier there was. Musk is from a CITES-listed species. Tinea is treated now with topical or oral antifungals. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.