Formulas · External Application 外用 · Dansim (丹心)

Bamboo Tube Poison-Drawing Method

Juktongheupdok-bang

한글 죽통흡독방 · Pinyin Zhu Tong Xi Du Fang

竹筒吸毒方

The bamboo tubes are apparatus rather than ingredients and are not entered in the ingredient list; the seven drugs are the liquor the tubes are boiled in. 生肌膏, named at the close as the dressing applied afterwards, is not given in this chapter and is not linked.

Composition 構成

Changchul Cang Zhu
蒼朮 창출 · Atractylodes Lancea

12 g
Chief 君

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Baengnyeom Bai Lian
白斂 백렴 · Ampelopsis Root

12 g
Deputy 臣

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Baekjillyeo Bai Ji Li
白蒺藜 백질려 · Tribulus

12 g
Deputy 臣

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Hubak Hou Po
厚朴 후박 · Magnolia Bark

12 g
Deputy 臣

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Aeyeop Ai Ye
艾葉 애엽 · Mugwort Leaf

12 g
Assistant 佐

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Baekgeup Bai Ji
白及 백급 · Bletilla

12 g
Assistant 佐

3 don, in the boiling liquor
Seacha Xi Ya Cha
細芽茶 세아차 · Fine Tea Buds

12 g
Envoy 使

茶芽 — tea buds, 3 don, in the boiling liquor

Total 84 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

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 癰疽, 丁瘡, toxic swellings and every malignant sore by sucking out pus, blood and foul fluid
The boiled bamboo tube is pressed hot onto the sore and left until it fills and drops off of itself
Repeated three or five times, after which Saenggi-go is applied

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

癰疽ㆍ丁瘡ㆍ腫毒 with pus and foul fluid gathered beneath
諸般惡瘡 that will not discharge

Biomedical correlates

Collected abscess requiring drainage — historical suction method
Suppurative soft-tissue infection — historical drainage method

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治癰疽ㆍ丁瘡ㆍ腫毒, 及諸般惡瘡. 吸出膿血惡水, 甚佳. 苦竹筒三箇或五箇, 長一二寸許, 一頭留節, 薄削去靑皮. 以蒼朮ㆍ白斂ㆍ白蒺藜ㆍ厚朴ㆍ艾葉ㆍ白芨ㆍ茶芽各三錢, 右爲麄末, 將竹筒水二升同煮十數沸. 乘竹筒熱, 以手按於瘡上, 候膿血水滿, 自然脫落. 不然, 用手拔脫, 更換新筒. 如此三五次, 其毒盡消, 卽付生肌膏. 《丹心》

Translation

Treats abscesses, sinus abscesses, boils and toxic swellings, and every malignant sore. It sucks out pus, blood and foul fluid, and is very good. Take three or five tubes of bitter bamboo, one or two inches long, with the node left closed at one end and the green skin pared thin away. Take atractylodes lancea, ampelopsis root, tribulus, magnolia bark, mugwort leaf, bletilla and tea buds, 3 don each, grind them coarse, and boil them with the bamboo tubes in 2 seung of water for ten-odd bubblings. While the tube is still hot, press it with the hand onto the sore; wait until it has filled with pus, blood and fluid, and it will drop off of itself. If it does not, pull it off with the hand and put a fresh tube on. Do this three or five times, and the toxin is wholly dispersed; then apply Saenggi-go. — Dansim 丹心 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Not a formula but an instrument. A short tube of bitter bamboo, closed at one end by its own node and pared thin, is boiled in a medicated decoction and then clapped hot onto the sore; as the air trapped inside cools it contracts, and the tube holds itself on and draws. When it has filled it falls away, and a fresh one goes on, three or five times over. This is cupping applied to an abscess, and the herbs are the least important part of it. The principle is sound and is still in use. A collection of pus does not resolve until it is drained, and negative pressure is one of the ways drainage is now achieved — the modern form is a sealed dressing on a calibrated vacuum pump, used on wounds that will not close. Whoever wrote this leaf had understood that suction empties a cavity, which is a real piece of observation. **It must not be reproduced. A boiled bamboo tube is not sterile, it cannot be sterilized, the heat it is applied at will scald, and pressing it onto an unopened swelling tears tissue and can drive infection into the bloodstream.** An abscess that needs draining needs incision and drainage under clean conditions, and usually antibiotics with it; this is a procedure, not a home remedy. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.