Huisheng Gao, an External-application TCM Paste Formula
Huisheng Gao (Life-Returning Paste) comes from the Jiyan Liangfang (Effective Formulas Collected for Relief), compiled during the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty.
Composition: Chuanbeimu (Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus) 8 liang, Mao'er Yanjingcao (Euphorbiae Helioscopiae Herba) 1 jin, Xiakucao (Prunellae Spica) 1 jin, and sesame oil 20 jin. Preparation: soak the herbs in the oil—five days in winter, three in summer, four in spring and autumn. Place in a copper pot over mulberry-twig fire, first gentle then strong, until the herbs are fried dry. Remove the dregs. Then fry 1 jin 8 liang of Huangdan (plumbum) until purple, and water-fly it into the oil. Use peach, willow, scholar-tree, apricot, and mulberry twigs to stir constantly, until a drop of the paste forms a bead in water. Making this paste requires the greatest cleanliness. Here 1 jin equals 16 liang, so 8 liang is half a jin.
Huisheng Gao clears heat and resolves toxin, reduces swelling, and disperses nodules. According to the original text, when the plaster is applied to the affected area, fluid will discharge from it. It must be changed three times daily. It treats ding toxin, fabi (back carbuncle), yongju (carbuncle and abscess), luoli (scrofula), ruyan (breast rock), tanhe (phlegm nodules), and all sores and toxins. These diseases mostly belong to external Chinese-medicine sores; luoli and ruyan may correspond to lymphoma and breast cancer.
Mao'er Yanjingcao in this formula is the whole herb of Zeqi (Euphorbia Helioscopia), a spurge. It treats water-qi edema, phlegm-rheum with panting and cough, malaria, bacillary dysentery, scrofula, ringworm sores, tuberculous fistulas, and osteomyelitis. Besides treating various skin, external, and tumor diseases, Zeqi also reduces edema; folk medicine uses it for cirrhosis and ascites.
Chuanbeimu resolves phlegm and disperses nodules; Xiakucao clears the liver, drains fire, reduces swelling, and scatters nodules. Thus the three main herbs in this formula all reduce swelling and scatter nodules. Used externally as a paste, they indeed reduce swelling and disperse nodules. But I have not used this formula in clinical practice, so I cannot yet judge its actual efficacy; I record it for later use.
No finished Huisheng Gao is sold on the market today. If patients wish to try it, they can prepare the paste themselves from the prescription. When using it, one can buy empty plaster patches online, put the Huisheng Gao into the patch, and apply directly to the affected area; this is more convenient.