Formulas · External Application 外用 · Boncho (本草)

Deer Antler Powder (Abscess Formula)

Nokgak-san

한글 녹각산 · Pinyin Lu Jiao San

鹿角散

Donguibogam carries two formulas called 鹿角散. This is the Ongjeo one, an external vinegar paste of deer antler alone; the other, from the Mong chapter and built on 鹿角 with 鹿茸, is registered as nokgak-san. The leaf gives no weight, only the preparation. 被膠急撮 is printed as the transcription has it; 癕 is printed as 癰 and 為 as 爲, following the corpus forms.

Composition 構成

Nokgak Lu Jiao
鹿角 녹각 · Deer Antler (ossified)

—
Chief 君

細末, 醋熬爲糊 — powdered fine and boiled down with vinegar into a paste; no weight given
Cho Cu
醋 초 · Vinegar

—
Envoy 使

醋, vinegar, as the vehicle

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

An external vinegar paste spread over the swelling with a hole left open at its head
Contracts as it dries so that the pus is squeezed out through the vent
Takes dead flesh away with the pus and lets good flesh grow

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

癰疽瘡腫 — abscesses and swollen sores
惡肉 to be removed and 好肌 to be grown
A swelling that has pointed but is not draining

Biomedical correlates

Pointing abscess requiring drainage — historical drawing dressing
Slough in a draining wound

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

主癰疽瘡腫, 去惡肉, 生好肌. 鹿角細末, 醋熬爲糊, 貼之, 當頭上開孔. 被膠急撮, 膿自出盡, 惡肉亦去矣. 《本草》

Translation

Governs abscesses and swollen sores; it removes dead flesh and grows good flesh. Powder deer antler finely, boil it down with vinegar into a paste, and paste it on, leaving a hole open over the head of the swelling. As the glue takes hold it draws tight, the pus comes out of itself until it is finished, and the dead flesh goes with it. — Boncho 本草 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

One drug and one vehicle: deer antler powdered fine and reduced with vinegar to a glue, then spread over the swelling with a hole deliberately left open at its head. The mechanism is mechanical rather than pharmacological, and rather elegant — as the paste dries it contracts and grips the skin around the swelling, and what it squeezes has only the one vent to leave by. That is a drawing dressing, and the principle behind it holds: a collection of pus needs a route out, and circumferential pressure with an opening at the centre encourages one. It is the same thought as the 圍藥 applications later in the chapter, which wall a swelling in rather than drawing it out, and it is worth reading the two together. What it is not is a substitute for incision and drainage. An abscess that has pointed needs opening, and anything deep, spreading or febrile needs that done properly rather than coaxed. **Deer antler is a protected-animal material of the same kind as the restricted 鹿角膠, and this should not be sourced or prepared.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.