Formulas · External Application 外用 · Haejang (海藏)

Realgar Powder (Abscess Formula)

Unghwang-san

한글 웅황산 · Pinyin Xiong Huang San

雄黃散

Donguibogam carries three formulas called 雄黃散. This is the Ongjeo one, an external realgar-and-croton application for dead flesh; the Gangmok emetic of the same name is registered as unghwang-san and the Inhu throat formula as unghwang-san-in. The single croton seed is a count item and the 少許 of frankincense and myrrh a quantity at discretion, so neither carries a gram figure. 凣 is printed as 凡, 癕 as 癰 and 蔵 as 藏, following the corpus forms.

Composition 構成

Unghwang Xiong Huang
雄黃 웅황 · Realgar

4 g
Chief 君

末一錢 — powdered realgar, an arsenic sulphide
Padu Ba Dou
巴豆 파두 · Croton Seed

—
Chief 君

一箇, 不去皮 — one seed with the skin left on; croton seed, violently toxic
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

—
Assistant 佐

各少許, a little
Moryak Mo Yao
沒藥 몰약 · Myrrh

—
Assistant 佐

各少許, a little

Total 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

A caustic paste dabbed onto dead flesh, not swallowed
Removes dead flesh from any sore
Added in small amount to any plaster for the same purpose

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

諸瘡中惡肉 — dead flesh in any sore
諸癰瘡有惡肉者 — any abscess or sore holding dead flesh

Biomedical correlates

Necrotic tissue and slough in an abscess or chronic ulcer — historical escharotic

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

去諸瘡中惡肉. 雄黃末一錢, 巴豆一箇(不去皮), 硏如泥, 入乳香ㆍ沒藥各少許, 再硏細, 點上惡肉自去. ○凡膏藥內入雄黃ㆍ巴豆少許, 不傷好肉, 止去惡肉, 諸癰瘡有惡肉者皆可去. 《海藏》

Translation

Removes dead flesh from any sore. Powdered realgar 1 don, croton seed 1 piece with the skin left on; grind them to a mud, add a little frankincense and myrrh each, grind fine again, and dab it on the dead flesh, which then goes of itself. ○ For any plaster, put a little realgar and croton seed into it; it does not injure the good flesh and only takes away the dead, and the dead flesh of any abscess or sore can be removed in this way. — Haejang 海藏 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The same two drugs as 去惡散, in the same proportion and for the same job, taken from 海藏 rather than 入門 — and the one difference is that the croton seed keeps its skin here and is husked there. The two leaves sit a few lines apart in the section with the 鹿角散 leaf between them, which is how the 寶鑑 habitually prints variants of a single method rather than choosing between them. The appended note states the group's general rule: a little realgar and croton seed added to any plaster will take dead flesh off without harming good flesh. It was a widely held claim and it is not true; both drugs destroy tissue without discrimination, and the plaster carries them across the viable margin as readily as over the slough. **Contains realgar, an arsenic sulphide, and croton seed, a violent vesicant. This must not be prepared.** Arsenic crosses an open wound into the circulation, and arsenical escharotic pastes continue to cause serious injury wherever they are sold as black salves. Dead tissue is removed by surgical debridement, which is both selective and controllable in a way that no caustic is. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.