TCM herbs database
Chinese herbs used for the skin
Nature, taste, channels, actions, dosage and safety for the herbs that appear in skin formulas - with the formulas each one belongs to and the conditions it is used for.
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Ai Ye艾叶ài yèArtemisia argyi
Ai Ye is the leaf of mugwort, the aromatic plant most people outside China know as the material of moxibustion. In skin practice the leaf is used far more often as a wash than as…
Used for: Itchy skin, Eczema, Itchy genitalia, Chilblains, Neurodermatitis
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An Xi Xiang安息香ān xī xiāngStyrax tonkinensis
An Xi Xiang is benzoin, the balsam of Southeast Asian Styrax trees, and on a skin page it is a surface medicine rather than an internal one. Its traditional character is aromatic,…
Used for: Cracked skin, Skin erosion, Skin burns, Skin infection
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Ba Ji Tian巴戟天bā jǐ tiānMorinda officinalis
Ba Ji Tian is the root of a climbing shrub of the madder family, acrid and sweet and only slightly warm, and it is counted among the gentlest of the herbs that warm the Kidney.…
Used for: Vitiligo, Facial plaque, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Thickened or insensitive skin
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Bai Dou Kou白豆蔻bái dòu kòuAmomum kravanh
Bai Dou Kou is the round white cardamom, warm, acrid and strongly aromatic, entering the Lung, Spleen and Stomach. It is a digestive herb before it is a skin herb, and its skin…
Used for: Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Dandruff, Oily skin, Acne, Moist skin sensation
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Bai Fu Zi白附子bái fù zǐTyphonium giganteum (禹白附). The classical name covered two plants; see identity_note.
Two things have to be said about Bai Fu Zi before anything else. The first is that it is a **toxic raw herb**: the untreated tuber contains needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals…
Used for: Dark face, Keloids, Acne
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Bai He百合bǎi héLilium brownii
Bai He is the fleshy scale of the lily bulb, slightly cool, sweet with a faint bitterness, and it enters the Lung and the Heart. In Chinese medicine the Lung governs the skin and…
Used for: Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin, Ichthyosis, Senile pruritus, Cracked skin
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Bai Hua She She Cao白花蛇舌草bái huā shé shé cǎoHedyotis diffusa
Chinese herbs for the skin Bai Hua She She Cao 白花蛇舌草 bái huā shé shé cǎo Hedyotis diffusa Whole plant A mild herb of very cold nature, Bai Hua She She Cao rests its whole…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Folliculitis, Acne, Cellulitis, Erysipelas
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Bai Ji白及bái jíBletilla striata
Bai Ji is the sticky tuber that the tradition reaches for when something needs to close. It is cool, bitter and strongly astringent, it enters the Lung, Stomach and Liver, and its…
Used for: Skin erosion, Cracked skin, Acne, Keloids
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Bai Jie Zi白芥子bái jiè zǐSinapis alba
The white mustard seed is warm and sharply acrid, and its territory is phlegm that has settled in places ordinary phlegm herbs cannot reach. The old texts call that layer between…
Used for: Subcutaneous nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Cold skin swelling, Cold, indolent abscess
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Bai Mao Gen白茅根bái máo gēnImperata cylindrica var. major
Bai Mao Gen is the lalang grass rhizome, a sweet, cold, juicy root that cools the Blood and arrests bleeding without drying the skin. In skin practice it is chosen for the…
Used for: Purpura, Petechiae, Heat rash, Macular rash, Dry, hot skin
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Bai Shao白芍bái sháoPaeonia lactiflora
Bai Shao is the peeled and boiled root of the cultivated peony, cool, sour and slightly bitter. In skin practice it is a builder rather than a clearer. It is chosen when the skin…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Eczema, Atopic Dermatitis, Neurodermatitis, Senile Pruritus, Melasma
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Bai Xian Pi白鲜皮bái xiǎn píDictamnus dasycarpus
Bai Xian Pi is a pale root bark from a citrus relative, bitter and cold, with a strong smell that classical writers noticed before anything else about it. Its work in skin…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy skin, Urticaria, Contact dermatitis, Scabies, Itchy genitalia
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Bai Zhi白芷bái zhǐAngelica dahurica
The tradition sends this aromatic root to the face. Bai Zhi is warm, pungent and drying, and what it does on the skin is move what has stalled: it disperses the Wind behind a…
Used for: Acne, Boils, Skin abscess, Dark face, Melasma, Facial swelling
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Bai Zhu白术bái zhúAtractylodes macrocephala
Bai Zhu is the herb this tradition treats as foremost for strengthening the Spleen, and in skin practice it acts on where Dampness is made rather than on the lesion itself. The…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Eczema, Skin swelling, Oily or clammy skin sensation, Urticaria
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Bai Zi Ren柏子仁bǎi zǐ rénPlatycladus orientalis
The arborvitae seed is sweet and neutral, it builds Heart Blood and Yin, and it is the mildest of the seeds used to calm the spirit. In skin practice it is chosen for skin that is…
Used for: Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin, Cracked skin, Wrinkled and shrunken skin, Senile pruritus
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Ban Lan Gen板蓝根bǎn lán gēnIsatis indigotica
Ban Lan Gen comes from woad, the plant whose leaves yield indigo, and for centuries the root was a by-product of the dye trade. In skin practice its place is narrow and specific:…
Used for: Macular rash in a febrile illness, Petechiae, Purpura, Drug rash, Chickenpox
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Ban Xia半夏bàn xiàPinellia ternata
Ban Xia is the herb the phlegm tradition is built around: warm and acrid, entering the Spleen, Stomach and Lungs, drying Dampness and transforming Phlegm. The skin it suits is the…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Subcutaneous lumps and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Localised skin swelling
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Ban Zhi Lian半枝莲bàn zhī liánScutellaria barbata
Ban Zhi Lian is the whole-plant skullcap, cold and bitter with an acrid edge, and it is the member of the genus that skin practice reaches for when heat has thickened into a hard,…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Folliculitis, Cellulitis, Skin infection
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Bei Sha Shen北沙参běi shā shēnGlehnia littoralis
The pale root of a coastal umbellifer, sweet, slightly bitter and only a little cool, Bei Sha Shen is a Yin tonic that works within the Lung and the Stomach. Its task is to…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Dry And Hot Skin, Skin Tightness, Cracked Skin, Senile Pruritus
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Bi Xie萆薢bì xièDioscorea spongiosa
Bi Xie is the herb for turbidity, and its skin use follows from that same action. The rhizome drains Dampness downward and restores the separation of clear fluid from waste, so…
Used for: Eczema, Foot and lower leg rashes and fungal infections, Jock itch, Vulval eczema, Tinea
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Bian Xu萹蓄biǎn xùPolygonum aviculare
Bian Xu is knotgrass, the low creeping weed with swollen joints that grows on paths, yards and waste ground. In skin practice it is a wash herb before it is anything else, chosen…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy skin with redness, Anal irritation and itch, Itchy genitalia, Jock itch
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Bo He薄荷bò héMentha haplocalyx
Field mint is the coolest and lightest of the herbs that act at the body's surface. It opens the pores, drives out Wind-Heat and coaxes a rash that has been held down into the…
Used for: Urticaria, Itchy skin, Skin rashes, Heat rash, Chickenpox, Itchy scalp
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Bu Gu Zhi补骨脂bǔ gǔ zhǐPsoralea corylifolia
This small dark legume fruit, warm, acrid and bitter, is used in the tradition to warm the Kidney Yang and secure what is leaking. Its skin work is narrower than its internal…
Used for: Vitiligo, Psoriasis, Corns, Warts
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Cang Zhu苍术cāng zhúAtractylodes lancea
Cang Zhu is a strongly aromatic rhizome whose whole character is dryness. It is warm, acrid and bitter, and the tradition uses it to draw moisture out of tissue that has become…
Used for: Eczema, Athlete's Foot, Jock Itch, Seborrhoeic Dermatitis, Tinea, Skin Swelling
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Cao Dou Kou草豆蔻cǎo dòu kòuAlpinia katsumadai
Cao Dou Kou is the seed of a wild cardamom relative, warm, acrid and strongly aromatic, and it enters the Spleen and Stomach. Its skin relevance is indirect and specific. Where…
Used for: Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Oily skin, Dandruff, Moist skin sensation, Foul body odour
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Cao Guo草果cǎo guǒLanxangia tsao-ko
Cao Guo is a kitchen spice in south-western China and one of the most strongly drying of the warm aromatics. Its skin role is narrow but real: when Cold and Dampness have settled…
Used for: Cool or clammy skin sensation, Moist skin sensation, Oily or clammy skin sensation, Skin swelling
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Chai Hu柴胡chái húBupleurum chinense
Chai Hu is the root that courses the Liver, and its value in skin practice is almost entirely about constraint. It is chosen where the skin reacts to pressure: hives that appear…
Used for: Melasma, Chronic urticaria, Neurodermatitis, Herpes zoster infection, Psoriasis
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Che Qian Cao车前草chē qián cǎoPlantago asiatica
Che Qian Cao is plantain, the broad-leaved weed that grows along paths and in lawns, and the medicine is the whole plant, not its seed. It is cold and sweet rather than bitter. On…
Used for: Boils, Erysipelas, Skin infection, Heat rash, Eczema
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Che Qian Zi车前子chē qián zǐPlantago asiatica
The plantain that thrives in cart ruts and at the roadside gives this small seed, whose work is to open a drainage route. Sweet and cold rather than bitter, it swells into a…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy genitalia, Jock itch, Athlete's foot, Heat rash
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Chen Pi陈皮chén píCitrus reticulata
Chen Pi is the dried, aged peel of the tangerine, warm, acrid and bitter, entering the Spleen and the Lungs. It is a Qi-regulating herb rather than a skin herb in its own right,…
Used for: Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Oily skin, Dandruff, Eczema, Atopic dermatitis
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Chi Shao赤芍chì sháoPaeonia lactiflora
Chinese herbs for the skin Chi Shao 赤芍 chì sháo Paeonia lactiflora Root Chi Shao is the red peony root, the cooling and moving half of a pair that is often taught together: Bai…
Used for: Psoriasis, Eczema, Rosacea, Petechiae, Purpura, Bruising
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Chong Lou重楼chóng lóuParis polyphylla var. yunnanensis
The medicine called Chong Lou is a knobbly rhizome, dug from a slow-growing woodland herb whose single whorl of leaves sits beneath one greenish flower. Few cooling,…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Cellulitis, Erysipelas, Skin swelling
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Chuan Bei Mu川贝母chuān bèi mǔFritillaria cirrhosa
Chuan Bei Mu is the sweet, slightly cool fritillary bulb, the mildest and most moistening of all the Bei Mu bulbs, and its reputation belongs to the dry cough rather than to the…
Used for: Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Dry and hot skin, Skin dryness
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Chuan Niu Xi川牛膝chuān niú xīCyathula officinalis
Chuan Niu Xi is the Sichuan root, neutral in temperature and sweet with a bitter edge, entering the Liver and Kidney channels with a pronounced downward direction. Its work is on…
Used for: Bruising, Chilblains, Red and swollen feet, Erythema nodosum, Scleroderma
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Chuan Xin Lian穿心莲chuān xīn liánAndrographis paniculata
Chinese herbs for the skin Chuan Xin Lian 穿心莲 chuān xīn lián Andrographis paniculata Aerial parts Chuan Xin Lian is andrographis, one of the bitterest herbs in the materia medica,…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Cellulitis, Erysipelas, Impetigo, Folliculitis, Skin infection, Eczema
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Chuan Xiong川芎chuān xiōngLigusticum chuanxiong
Chuan Xiong is the warm, aromatic rhizome that the tradition uses whenever Blood has ceased to circulate. It moves Qi at the same time as Blood, a double action that earned it the…
Used for: Bruising, Chilblains, Melasma, Purple face, Psoriasis
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Cong Bai葱白cōng báiAllium fistulosum
Cong Bai is the white bulb and stalk of the scallion, warm and pungent, and it is a kitchen food before it is a herb. Its skin use is almost entirely external: the bulb is…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Breast blister, Chilblains
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Da Huang大黄dà huángRheum palmatum
Da Huang is rhubarb root, the most forceful laxative in the Chinese materia medica, and skin practice uses it for heat that has gone deep. The typical setting is a boil, an…
Used for: Boils, Skin Abscess, Cellulitis, Purpura, Skin Burns, Acne
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Da Zao大枣dà zǎoZiziphus jujuba
Da Zao is the dried ripe fruit of the jujube tree, a food that also serves as a medicine. Sweet and warm, it acts on the middle burner: strengthening the Spleen and Stomach, which…
Used for: Chronic urticaria, Neurodermatitis, Senile pruritus, Ichthyosis
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Dan Dou Chi淡豆豉dàn dòu chǐGlycine max
Dan Dou Chi is black soybean that has been fermented with two herbs, mulberry leaf and sweet wormwood; the processing, not the bean, is what makes it a medicine. It is the mildest…
Used for: Urticaria, Macular rash, Chickenpox, Mild wind-heat itch
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Dan Nan Xing胆南星dǎn nán xīngArisaema erubescens
Dan Nan Xing is the bile-processed form of Tian Nan Xing, and the processing is the whole point. The raw arisaema tuber is an irritant poison, full of needle-shaped calcium…
Used for: Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Skin swelling, Skin numbness, Thickened or insensitive skin
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Dan Shen丹参dān shēnSalvia miltiorrhiza
Dan Shen is the root of a red-rooted sage, and this tradition takes the colour as an emblem of its work on Blood. It cools the Blood and moves it at the same time, which makes it…
Used for: Acne, Rosacea, Psoriasis, Purpura, Keloids, Boils
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Dan Zhu Ye淡竹叶dàn zhú yèLophatherum gracile
Dan Zhu Ye is the leaf of a woodland grass that resembles a young bamboo, and it is the gentlest of the cooling herbs used on skin. Its picture is a hot, restless, thirsty person…
Used for: Heat Rash, Diaper Rash, Skin Inflammation, Burning Hot Skin To The Touch
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Dang Gui当归dāng guīAngelica sinensis
Dang Gui stands at the centre of Blood tonification in this tradition, and it is the herb most often reached for when the skin itself looks underfed. It nourishes the Blood, warms…
Used for: Eczema, Skin dryness, Melasma, Vitiligo, Chilblains, Cracked skin
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Dang Shen党参dǎng shēnCodonopsis pilosula
Dang Shen is the root of a twining bellflower, sweet and neutral, and the tradition uses it as a milder, cheaper stand-in for ginseng. Its work is in the middle of the body: it…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Eczema, Skin abscess, Skin dryness
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Di Fu Zi地肤子dì fū zǐKochia scoparia
Di Fu Zi is the small dried fruit of a wayside plant, cold, bitter and slightly acrid, and it is one of the gentler itch herbs in the materia medica. It clears Heat, drains…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy skin, Urticaria, Contact dermatitis, Itchy genitalia, Vulvar eczema
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Di Gu Pi地骨皮dì gǔ píLycium chinense
The wolfberry shrub gives both the goji fruit and this root bark, and the two have opposite temperaments. The bark is cold and clearing where the fruit is sweet and building, and…
Used for: Hot, dry skin, Burning skin on touch, Itch of the elderly, Petechiae, Dry skin with heat
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Di Yu地榆dì yúSanguisorba officinalis
Di Yu is the burn remedy of the Chinese materia medica, and the same properties that earned it that place are what it brings to skin care: a cool, bitter, sour root with a heavy…
Used for: Skin burns, Sunburn, Eczema, Skin erosion, Purpura
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Dong Gua Zi冬瓜子dōng guā zǐBenincasa hispida
Winter melon seed is a kitchen herb with one of the oldest cosmetic records in the materia medica: the earliest entry praises it for making the face lustrous, and a later text…
Used for: Rosacea, Acne, Boils, Skin abscess, Dark face
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Du Huo独活dú huóAngelica pubescens
Du Huo is a thick, aromatic Angelica root whose place is defined by depth and location: it works on Wind-Cold-Damp that has lodged in the channels of the lower half and in the…
Used for: Thickened or insensitive skin, Skin numbness, Skin tightness, Chilblains
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Du Zhong杜仲dù zhòngEucommia ulmoides
Du Zhong is the bark of Eucommia ulmoides, sweet and warm, entering the Liver and Kidney, and its classical work is on the lower back, the sinews and the bones. It is a tonic…
Used for: Itchy genitalia, Senile pruritus, Cracked skin, Skin numbness
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Fang Feng防风fáng fēngSaposhnikovia divaricata
Fang Feng is what the tradition reaches for whenever skin itches and the itch moves. Its name means to stand against Wind, and Wind in the old physiology is whatever shifts, rises…
Used for: Urticaria, Eczema, Itchy skin, Contact dermatitis, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Neurodermatitis, Psoriasis
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Fang Ji防己fáng jǐStephania tetrandra
Fang Ji is a climbing vine's root, and what it brings to the skin is a downward draining action. In skin practice it is chosen for damp-heat that sits low: weeping, puffy, itchy…
Used for: Eczema, Red and swollen feet, Swollen ankle, Skin swelling, Athlete's foot, Jock itch
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Fu Ling茯苓fú língPoria cocos
Fu Ling is a fungus, the hardened underground mass that grows on pine roots, and it is sweet, bland and neutral, with an affinity for the Heart, Lungs, Spleen and Kidneys. What it…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Eczema, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Jock itch and fold rash, Puffy, waterlogged skin
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Fu Ling Pi茯苓皮fú líng píPoria cocos
Fu Ling Pi is the dark outer skin of the Poria fungus, separated from the white interior that most formulas use. The tradition gives the peel one special territory: water that has…
Used for: Bullous dermatitis, Skin swelling, Facial swelling, Swollen ankle, Itchy vesicular rashes
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Fu Xiao Mai浮小麦fú xiǎo màiTriticum aestivum
Fu Xiao Mai is the light, shrivelled wheat grain that floats when the harvested crop is winnowed, and its whole medicinal identity is the contrast with the plump grain beside it.…
Used for: Moist skin sensation, Cool or clammy skin, Warm skin, Dry and hot skin
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Gan Cao甘草gān cǎoGlycyrrhiza uralensis
Gan Cao is the great reconciler of this materia medica, and in skin practice part of what it offers is indirect. The raw root clears heat and resolves toxin, which makes it useful…
Used for: Contact dermatitis, Urticaria, Boils, Erysipelas, Impetigo
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Gan Jiang干姜gān jiāngZingiber officinale
Gan Jiang is dried ginger, hotter and drier than the fresh root and aimed at the interior rather than the surface. In skin practice its job is to bring warmth back to tissue that…
Used for: Chilblains, Raynaud's disease, Cyanosis, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Skin abscess
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Ge Gen葛根gé gēnPueraria lobata
Ge Gen is the root of the kudzu vine and one of the few herbs in the materia medica that is also a food. Its skin work follows from a single idea: it moves things outward and…
Used for: Skin rashes, Macular rash, Heat rash, Chickenpox, Skin dryness
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Gou Qi Zi枸杞子gǒu qǐ zǐLycium barbarum
The goji berry carries a plainer role in skin practice than its reputation in the eye and fertility formulas suggests. Its work on the skin is to rebuild the Yin and Blood that…
Used for: Skin dryness, Senile pruritus, Itchy skin, Dry scalp, Skin tightness, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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Gou Teng钩藤gōu téngUncaria rhynchophylla
Gou Teng is the hook-bearing stem of the gambir vine, a sweet and cooling herb where most of the Wind-settling group are bitter and cold, and the tradition uses it to calm…
Used for: Urticaria, Itchy skin, Neurodermatitis, Skin hypersensitivity to touch
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Gua Lou瓜蒌guā lóuTrichosanthes kirilowii
Gua Lou is the ripe fruit of the trichosanthes vine: cold, sweet and faintly bitter, and far narrower in skin practice than its fame in the chest. What it offers the surface is…
Used for: Skin abscess, Boils, Skin swelling, Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin
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Gui Zhi桂枝guì zhīCinnamomum cassia
Gui Zhi is the slender young shoot of the cinnamon tree, warm and sweet-acrid, and it enters the Heart, Lung and Bladder. Its skin work follows from warmth and movement: it…
Used for: Urticaria, Chilblains, Raynaud's disease, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Melasma
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Hai Zao海藻hǎi zǎoSargassum pallidum
Hai Zao is a brown seaweed, salty and cold, and saltiness is the whole basis of its skin reputation: salt, in this framework, loosens whatever has set hard, so the herb is applied…
Used for: Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Skin swelling, Thickened or insensitive skin, Erythema nodosum
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He Shou Wu何首乌hé shǒu wūPolygonum multiflorum
He Shou Wu is a root whose two preparations are two different medicines. The prepared tuber, steamed repeatedly with black bean juice, is a Blood and Essence tonic, and its skin…
Used for: Dry skin, Wrinkled and shrunken skin, Senile pruritus, Itchy skin with redness, Boils and abscesses
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He Ye荷叶hé yèNelumbo nucifera
He Ye is the dried leaf of the sacred lotus, a bitter, neutral, food-grade herb that the tradition gives two jobs on the skin. The first is to clear Summer-Heat and the Dampness…
Used for: Heat rash, Chickenpox, Boils and abscesses, Purpura, Bruising
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Hong Hua红花hóng huāCarthamus tinctorius
Hong Hua is the dried flower of a thistle-like plant, and it is the warm, moving counterpart to the peach kernel. Acrid and warm, it enters the Heart and Liver, where the…
Used for: Bruising, Purpura, Erythema nodosum, Chilblains, Keloids, Melasma
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Hou Po厚朴hòu pòMagnolia officinalis
Chinese herbs for the skin Hou Po 厚朴 hòu pò Magnolia officinalis Bark Hou Po is the bark of Magnolia officinalis, bitter and acrid, warm, and one of the strongest drying and…
Used for: Eczema, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Oily skin, Urticaria
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Hua Shi滑石huá shíTalcum
Hua Shi is talc, a soft pale mineral that is ground and levigated into an impalpable powder. In skin practice it is a dusting powder before it is anything else: it takes up…
Used for: Heat Rash, Diaper Rash, Eczema, Itchy Skin, Jock Itch
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Huai Hua槐花huái huāStyphnolobium japonicum
Huai Hua is the flower and bud of the Chinese scholar tree, bitter and slightly cool, and its first work is on blood that heat has made reckless. On the skin that means the small…
Used for: Petechiae, Purpura, Hot, itchy rashes, Heat-type itch
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Huai Niu Xi怀牛膝huái niú xīAchyranthes bidentata
Huai Niu Xi is a neutral root that moves Blood and carries it downward, and in skin practice that downward direction is the whole point. It is chosen when the problem sits below…
Used for: Bruising, Chilblains, Red and swollen feet, Erythema nodosum, Skin numbness
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Huang Bo黄柏huáng bòPhellodendron chinense
The medicine is the yellow bark of Phellodendron chinense, and in skin practice its work is concentrated on the lower half of the body. It drains damp-heat that has settled into…
Used for: Eczema, Athlete's foot, Tinea, Jock itch, Scrotal eczema, Vulvar eczema
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Huang Lian黄连huáng liánCoptis chinensis
Huang Lian is the most intensely bitter and cold rhizome in the Chinese materia medica, and on the skin it is used where fire and dampness have produced a lesion that is red, hot,…
Used for: Acne, Boils, Folliculitis, Impetigo, Eczema, Skin abscess
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Huang Qi黄芪huáng qíAstragalus membranaceus
Chinese herbs for the skin Huang Qi 黄芪 huáng qí Astragalus membranaceus Root Huang Qi is the great Qi tonic, and in skin practice it is the herb for tissue that will not repair.…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Chronic urticaria, Skin erosion, Skin abscess, Skin dryness, Senile pruritus
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Huang Qin黄芩huáng qínScutellaria baicalensis
Chinese herbs for the skin Huang Qin 黄芩 huáng qín Scutellaria baicalensis Root Huang Qin is one of the three great bitter-cold herbs of Chinese medicine and the one most weighted…
Used for: Eczema, Atopic dermatitis, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Acne, Rosacea, Folliculitis, Boils and abscesses, Urticaria, Erythema multiforme, Psoriasis, Itchy skin with redness
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Huo Xiang藿香huò xiāngPogostemon cablin
Huo Xiang is the patchouli leaf, and its whole character is aromatic warmth. The tradition uses it to lift and dry turbid Dampness, the heavy, cloudy, stale quality that settles…
Used for: Athlete's Foot, Jock Itch, Foul Body Odour, Heat Rash, Itchy Vesicular Rashes
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Ji Li蒺藜jí líTribulus terrestris
Ji Li is the fruit of puncture vine, a low spiny plant of roadsides and poor ground, and in skin practice it is a Wind herb. Its territory is itch that moves: weals that rise…
Used for: Urticaria, Chronic urticaria, Itchy skin with redness, Neurodermatitis, Senile pruritus
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Ji Xue Teng鸡血藤jī xuè téngSpatholobus suberectus
Ji Xue Teng is the woody stem of a climbing legume from southern China, and it is unusual in doing two opposite things: it frees Blood that has stalled and it builds Blood that is…
Used for: Purpura, Vitiligo, Skin numbness, Scleroderma, Chilblains
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Jiang Huang姜黄jiāng huángCurcuma longa
Jiang Huang is the yellow rhizome of turmeric, warm, acrid and bitter, classed with the medicines that break Blood stasis, not merely those that move it. On the skin that means…
Used for: Bruising, Skin swelling, Psoriasis, Chilblains, Psoriatic arthritis
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Jie Geng桔梗jié gěngPlatycodon grandiflorus
Jie Geng is a Lung herb whose tendency is to open and lift, not to settle. It is neutral, so it can be added to a hot formula or a cold one without tipping the balance, and its…
Used for: Skin Abscess, Boils, Pustule, Acne
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Jin Qian Cao金钱草jīn qián cǎoLysimachia christinae
Jin Qian Cao is a creeping whole plant, cool and sweet with a salty and bland edge, and its modern reputation rests on stones. The older record is different and matters on this…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Tinea, Skin infection, Eczema
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Jin Yin Hua金银花jīn yín huāLonicera japonica
The medicine is the honeysuckle bud, gathered while still closed. It is unusual in being both a skin remedy and an ordinary food, and it clears heat toxin while dispersing…
Used for: Boils, Impetigo, Erysipelas, Urticaria, Heat rash, Eczema
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Jing Jie荆芥jīng jièSchizonepeta tenuifolia
Jing Jie belongs to the mild end of the warming surface herbs, and nearly everything it offers the skin follows from a single premise: a rash that has not finished coming out is…
Used for: Urticaria, Chronic urticaria, Itchy skin with no primary rash, Eczema, Contact dermatitis, Macular rash that has not fully vented, Early boil with surface congestion
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Ju Hua菊花jú huāChrysanthemum morifolium
Ju Hua is the garden chrysanthemum, the flower most people meet first as a tea. It is light, sweet-bitter and only slightly cool, and in skin practice its role is modest but…
Used for: Boils, Acne, Rosacea, Heat rash, Urticaria
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Ku Shen苦参kǔ shēnSophora flavescens
Ku Shen is the most intensely bitter and drying root in the bitter-cold group, and the one skin practice reaches for when an eruption is wet, red and maddening to scratch. Its…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy skin, Scabies, Tinea, Itchy genitalia, Scrotal eczema
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Kun Bu昆布kūn bùLaminaria japonica
Kun Bu is kelp, a cold, salty seaweed that the tradition describes as softening hardness and dissipating nodules. Its skin application follows directly from that phrase: it is…
Used for: Keloids, Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Scleroderma, Skin swelling
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Lai Fu Zi莱菔子lái fú zǐRaphanus sativus
The seed of the common radish has one defining direction: downward. In the digestive tradition it clears food left sitting in the stomach, releases distension and moves gas and…
Used for: Acne, Oily Skin, Sebaceous Cysts, Subcutaneous Lipomas And Nodules, Dandruff
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Li Pi梨皮lí píPyrus bretschneideri
Li Pi is the peel of the Asian pear, cool in temperature and sweet with a mild astringency, and it is a food before it is a medicine. Its skin record is small and mostly external:…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Dry and hot skin, Skin dryness
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Lian Qiao连翘lián qiáoForsythia suspensa
Chinese herbs for the skin Lian Qiao 连翘 lián qiáo Forsythia suspensa Fruit Lian Qiao is the dried capsule of the weeping forsythia, a light, bitter and slightly cool fruit that…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Folliculitis, Impetigo, Erysipelas, Acne
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Lian Zi莲子lián zǐNelumbo nucifera
Lian Zi is the dried seed of the sacred lotus, neutral in temperature, sweet and slightly astringent, and it enters the Spleen, Kidney and Heart. It is a food as much as a…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Eczema, Vulvar eczema, Candidiasis
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Lian Zi Xin莲子心lián zǐ xīnNelumbo nucifera
Lian Zi Xin is the small green embryo inside the lotus seed, and it is the bitterest part of a plant that is otherwise sweet and food-like. In the tradition it clears Fire from…
Used for: Acne, Heat rash, Warm skin, Dry and hot skin, Papules
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Long Dan Cao龙胆草lóng dǎn cǎoGentiana scabra
Long Dan Cao is the bitterest and coldest root in ordinary use, and its skin territory is the lower body and the channel it enters. It drains Liver and Gallbladder fire and dries…
Used for: Genital itch, Scrotal eczema, Vulval eczema, Jock itch, Shingles, Eczema
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Long Yan Rou龙眼肉lóng yǎn ròuDimocarpus longan
Long Yan Rou is a sweet, warm fruit that builds Blood from the Spleen side, and in skin practice it is used where the surface looks underfed rather than inflamed. The picture is a…
Used for: Skin dryness, Atopic dermatitis, Cracked skin, Chronic urticaria, Senile pruritus
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Lu Gen芦根lú gēnPhragmites australis
Lu Gen is the pale, hollow rhizome of the common reed, sweet and cold, and its skin role comes from two directions. The first is the face: heat in the Stomach and Lung rises to…
Used for: Rosacea, Cold sores with Stomach heat, Mottled skin in a high fever, Skin that is dry and hot at once, A rash that is slow to come out
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Ma Bian Cao马鞭草mǎ biān cǎoVerbena officinalis
The verbena herb, Ma Bian Cao in Chinese, is a slender wayside plant whose long flower spike bends like a whip. Chinese practice turns to it where heat and stagnation sit together…
Used for: Bruising, Skin swelling, Boils, Skin infection, Itchy skin
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Ma Chi Xian马齿苋mǎ chǐ xiànPortulaca oleracea
Ma Chi Xian is the purslane weed, a fleshy edible plant that doubles as a cooling medicine; on the skin the kitchen and the clinic overlap. It is cold and sour, clears heat toxin,…
Used for: Eczema, Impetigo, Boils, Skin abscess, Heat rash, Itchy skin, Diaper rash, Anal irritation
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Ma Huang麻黄má huángEphedra sinica
Ma Huang is the ephedra stem, the strongest of the herbs that release the exterior. Its skin territory is narrow and specific: pale or light-red wheals that rise when the skin is…
Used for: Urticaria, Facial swelling, Scleroderma, Skin swelling
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Mai Dong麦冬mài dōngOphiopogon japonicus
Mai Dong is the mildest of the moistening herbs, and its skin work is exactly that: it supplies the fluids that keep skin supple. When Yin and the body fluids run low, from fever,…
Used for: Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin, Skin tightness, Cracked skin, Ichthyosis
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Mang Xiao芒硝máng xiāoNatrii Sulfas
Mang Xiao is Glauber's salt, refined hydrated sodium sulphate, and it behaves like a salt rather than like a plant. On the skin it is used externally, as a cooled solution or a…
Used for: Boils, Skin Abscess, Erysipelas, Anal Irritation
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Mo Han Lian墨旱莲mò hàn liánEclipta prostrata
Mo Han Lian is a cold, sweet and sour aerial herb, and its reputation in skin practice rests on two quite different jobs. The first is corrective: when Heat has entered the Blood…
Used for: Purpura, Petechiae, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Dry scalp, Dry skin, Senile pruritus
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Mo Yao没药mò yàoCommiphora myrrha
Mo Yao is myrrh, the gum a wounded tree exudes to close itself, and the tradition reasons from the material: it is used where tissue has set, clotted or refused to mend. On the…
Used for: Bruising, Boils, Skin abscess, Keloids, Chilblains
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Mu Dan Pi牡丹皮mǔ dān píPaeonia suffruticosa
Mu Dan Pi is the bark of the tree peony root, and it is the herb the tradition reaches for when heat has gone down into the Blood and the skin makes that visible. It cools that…
Used for: Acne, Rosacea, Psoriasis, Purpura, Drug rash, Melasma
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Mu Gua木瓜mù guāChaenomeles speciosa
Mu Gua is the hard, intensely sour fruit of a thorny Chinese quince, and in skin practice it works on the lower half of the body. Its picture is a leg that is heavy, puffy and…
Used for: Athlete's foot, Red and swollen feet, Swollen ankle, Skin tightness
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Mu Tong木通mù tōngAkebia quinata
Mu Tong is the woody stem of a vine, and its work is downward and outward by way of the urine. In skin practice it is never the leading herb. It is added when a moist, eroded,…
Used for: Skin Erosion, Eczema, Itchy Genitalia, Scrotal Eczema, Vulvar Eczema
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Niu Bang Zi牛蒡子niú bàng zǐArctium lappa
Niu Bang Zi is the seed of burdock, the plant whose long root is also a table vegetable. In skin work it belongs to eruptions that have not completed: a rash that showed in…
Used for: Macular rash, Urticaria, Eczema, Itchy skin, Erysipelas, Boils and hot swellings
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Nu Zhen Zi女贞子nǚ zhēn zǐLigustrum lucidum
Nu Zhen Zi is the small black fruit of the glossy privet, a cool, sweet and bitter Yin tonic that enters the Liver and Kidney. It is the mildest of the Yin tonics in common use:…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Senile Pruritus, Wrinkled And Shrunken Skin, Dry Scalp
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Pi Pa Ye枇杷叶pí pá yèEriobotrya japonica
Chinese herbs for the skin Pi Pa Ye 枇杷叶 pí pá yè Eriobotrya japonica Leaf Pi Pa Ye comes from the loquat tree, a bitter leaf that is slightly cool, and it has one clear skin…
Used for: Acne, Rosacea, A red, thickened nose, Dandruff, Seborrhoeic dermatitis
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Pu Gong Ying蒲公英pú gōng yīngTaraxacum mongolicum
Pu Gong Ying is dandelion, a spring vegetable and a cold, bitter, faintly sweet medicine. Skin practice brings it out when heat has gathered into a lump or an infection: a boil,…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Folliculitis, Acne, Skin infection
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Pu Huang蒲黄pú huángTypha angustifolia
Cattail pollen, Pu Huang, is a fine yellow dust with an unusual double action: it holds blood inside the vessels and it disperses blood that has already leaked and clotted. On the…
Used for: Bruising, Purpura, Petechiae, Skin swelling
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Qian Cao茜草qiàn cǎoRubia cordifolia
Qian Cao is the root of madder, a plant that dyed wool and cloth red long before it was a medicine, and that colour was read as a signature of a Blood herb. Its character is…
Used for: Purpura, Petechiae, Bruising, Erythema nodosum, Psoriasis
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Qiang Huo羌活qiāng huóNotopterygium incisum
Qiang Huo is the root and rhizome of a high-altitude umbellifer, warm and acrid with a bitter edge, and it enters the Bladder channel that runs up the back and over the head.…
Used for: Urticaria, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Skin swelling, Chilblains
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Qin Jiao秦艽qín jiāoGentiana macrophylla
Qin Jiao is the gentle member of the Wind-Dampness group, and that is exactly why it turns up in skin practice. Most herbs that move painful obstruction are warm and drying, which…
Used for: Erythema nodosum, Psoriatic arthritis, Skin numbness, Red and swollen feet, Dry and hot skin
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Qin Pi秦皮qín píFraxinus rhynchophylla
Chinese herbs for the skin Qin Pi 秦皮 qín pí Fraxinus rhynchophylla Bark Qin Pi is ash bark, and its character comes from a combination few herbs carry: bitter and cold enough to…
Used for: Eczema, Jock itch, Diaper rash, Anal irritation, Itchy genitalia
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Qing Hao青蒿qīng hāoArtemisia annua
Qing Hao is the herb of heat that has gone in deep. Its work is not at the surface of the skin but underneath it, in the Yin layer and the Blood, where heat smoulders and produces…
Used for: Heat Rash, Itchy Skin, Dry And Hot Skin, Warm Skin, Macular Rash
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Qing Pi青皮qīng píCitrus reticulata
Qing Pi comes from tangerines picked green and unripe; it is warm, bitter and acrid, and it enters the Liver, Gallbladder and Stomach. Its skin role is indirect but well defined.…
Used for: Melasma, Skin pigmentation, Dark face, Breast pruritus, Spider veins
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Quan Shen拳参quán shēnPolygonum bistorta
Quan Shen is the twisted bistort rhizome, cool, bitter and astringent. It does two things at once that most herbs do separately: it clears heat toxin and it binds and tightens…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Impetigo, Skin erosion, Skin infection, Itchy vesicular rashes, Purpura, Anal irritation
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Ren Dong Teng忍冬藤rěn dōng téngLonicera japonica
Ren Dong Teng is honeysuckle stem, from the same plant that yields Jin Yin Hua, and it is used where heat toxin has settled into the skin or a limb. It clears the heat, resolves…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Eczema, Skin infection, Cellulitis
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Ren Shen人参rén shēnPanax ginseng
Chinese herbs for the skin Ren Shen 人参 rén shēn Panax ginseng Root Ren Shen is the great Qi tonic of the tradition, and on a skin page it is a supporting herb with a narrow brief.…
Used for: Chronic urticaria, Boils, Cool or clammy skin, Purpura, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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Rou Cong Rong肉苁蓉ròu cōng róngCistanche deserticola
A thick, fleshy stem from a desert plant that parasitises shrub roots, Rou Cong Rong is unusual among warming tonics in that it moistens instead of drying. It acts on the Kidney,…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Wrinkled And Shrunken Skin, Cool Or Clammy Skin Sensation, Cracked Skin, Senile Pruritus
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Rou Dou Kou肉豆蔻ròu dòu kòuMyristica fragrans
Rou Dou Kou is nutmeg, a warm, acrid, astringent seed that is a kitchen spice as much as a medicine. Its skin role is narrow and it is easily misused. It is chosen when the skin…
Used for: Cool or clammy skin sensation, Moist skin sensation, Eczema, Anal irritation
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Rou Gui肉桂ròu guìCinnamomum cassia
The same tree yields Gui Zhi from its young twigs and Rou Gui from its bark, and the two work at different depths: the twig releases the surface, the bark warms the interior. On…
Used for: Chilblains, Raynaud's disease, Skin abscess, Scleroderma, Cool or clammy skin sensation
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Ru Xiang乳香rǔ xiāngBoswellia carterii
Ru Xiang is the resin of a desert tree of the frankincense family, and on the skin it is a mover and a repairer rather than a drier. It is chosen where tissue is hard, dusky and…
Used for: Boils and abscesses, Skin abscess, Bruising, Keloids, Burns
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San Qi三七sān qīPanax notoginseng
Notoginseng is the trauma root. It stops bleeding and moves the blood at the same time, which is why a bruise that stays hard and dark, a swelling after a blow, and a wound that…
Used for: Bruising, Bruising easily, Skin swelling, Purpura
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Sang Bai Pi桑白皮sāng bái píMorus alba
Mulberry root bark is cold and sweet rather than bitter, which makes it the mildest of the herbs that act on the Lung by draining it. Two jobs follow from that. Heat trapped in…
Used for: Facial Swelling, Skin Swelling, Acne, Rosacea
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Sang Ji Sheng桑寄生sāng jì shēngTaxillus chinensis
Sang Ji Sheng is a mistletoe of the mulberry, a hemi-parasitic shrub whose nature is neutral and whose bittersweet taste leads it into the Liver and Kidney. Its work is twofold:…
Used for: Chronic Urticaria, Senile Pruritus, Skin Dryness, Wrinkled And Shrunken Skin, Psoriatic Arthritis, Neurodermatitis
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Sang Ye桑叶sāng yèMorus alba
Sang Ye is the frost-touched leaf of the white mulberry, cold, sweet and slightly bitter, and it is one of the gentlest herbs in the cooling group. Its work on the skin is the…
Used for: Urticaria, Chronic urticaria, Itchy skin, Skin rashes, Dandruff
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Sang Zhi桑枝sāng zhīMorus alba
Sang Zhi is the young twig of the white mulberry, neither warm nor cool, with a bitter taste, and it enters the Liver channel. Its work is on the limbs and the channels rather…
Used for: Itchy Skin, Skin Dryness, Urticaria, Neurodermatitis, Hand Eczema
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Sha Ren砂仁shā rénAmomum villosum
Sha Ren is the aromatic fruit of a ginger-family plant, a spice in southern Chinese cooking and one of the gentlest herbs that transform Dampness. On a skin page it is an…
Used for: Oily or clammy skin sensation, Moist skin sensation, Dandruff, Eczema
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Shan Yao山药shān yàoDioscorea opposita
Chinese yam is the gentlest herb on a skin page: a food that builds Qi and nourishes the fluids that keep the skin supple. Its classical warrant is a single line, that it moistens…
Used for: Skin dryness, Cracked skin, Wrinkled and shrunken skin, Senile pruritus, Eczema
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Shan Zhu Yu山茱萸shān zhū yúCornus officinalis
Shan Zhu Yu is the pitted flesh of a small dark red fruit, sour and slightly astringent with a gentle warmth, and it belongs to the dry and depleted end of skin practice. It…
Used for: Senile pruritus, Melasma, Dry and hot skin, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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She Chuang Zi蛇床子shé chuáng zǐCnidium monnieri
She Chuang Zi is a small aromatic fruit of the carrot family, warm, acrid and bitter, and its main work is on the skin and the genital area rather than on the interior. It dries…
Used for: Itchy genitalia, Scrotal eczema, Vulvar eczema, Scabies, Tinea, Itchy skin
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She Gan射干shè gānBelamcanda chinensis
She Gan is a cold, bitter rhizome of an iris relative, and it is a throat herb before it is anything else: a swollen, red, painful throat with thick phlegm, hoarseness and a voice…
Used for: Skin swelling, Boils, Erysipelas, Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules
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Sheng Di Huang生地黄shēng dì huángRehmannia glutinosa
Sheng Di Huang is the raw, cold root of rehmannia, and in skin practice it is used for heat that has gone deep enough to change the Blood rather than the surface. The picture is a…
Used for: Purpura, Petechiae, Psoriasis, Eczema, Dry skin, Drug rash
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Sheng Jiang生姜shēng jiāngZingiber officinale
Sheng Jiang is the fresh rhizome of the ginger plant, and in the Chinese materia medica it is as much food as medicine. Its skin use is the logical extension of its warming,…
Used for: Vitiligo, Chilblains, Urticaria, Chronic Urticaria
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Sheng Ma升麻shēng máCimicifuga dahurica
Sheng Ma is a light, slightly cool rhizome from a buttercup-family plant, and in skin practice it does two jobs. The first is to finish an eruption: when a rash has come out in a…
Used for: Skin Rashes, Macular Rash, Boils, Erysipelas, Skin Infection
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Shi Chang Pu石菖蒲shí chāng púAcorus tatarinowii
Shi Chang Pu is the slender aromatic rhizome of a rush that grows on stones in running water, and its nature is written into that setting: warm, pungent, bitter, intensely…
Used for: Neurodermatitis, Itchy Skin, Itchy Genitalia, Anal Irritation
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Shi Gao石膏shí gāoGypsum
Chinese herbs for the skin Shi Gao 石膏 shí gāo Gypsum Mineral, raw Shi Gao is gypsum, the soft fibrous mineral that the tradition rates as its strongest cooling material. Its place…
Used for: Skin Burns, Eczema, Skin Erosion, Burning Hot Skin To The Touch, Skin Inflammation
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Shi Hu石斛shí húDendrobium nobile
Shi Hu is the dried stem of an epiphytic orchid, sweet, slightly cool and unusually rich in mucilage. Its work is to replenish the fluids and the Yin, and on the skin that…
Used for: Skin dryness, Cracked skin, Dry and hot skin, Senile pruritus, Dry scalp
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Shu Di Huang熟地黄shú dì huángRehmannia glutinosa
Chinese herbs for the skin Shu Di Huang 熟地黄 shú dì huáng Rehmannia glutinosa Prepared root Shu Di Huang is rehmannia root taken through repeated steaming with rice wine until it…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Eczema, Vitiligo, Melasma, Senile Pruritus, Chronic Urticaria
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Suan Zao Ren酸枣仁suān zǎo rénZiziphus jujuba var. spinosa
Suan Zao Ren is the seed a practitioner reaches for when the skin is worse for lack of sleep. Its work is to nourish Heart and Liver Blood and to settle a spirit that will not…
Used for: Neurodermatitis, Senile pruritus, Chronic urticaria, Itchy skin, Atopic dermatitis
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Tai Zi Shen太子参tài zǐ shēnPseudostellaria heterophylla
Tai Zi Shen is the small tuber of Pseudostellaria heterophylla, sweet and slightly bitter, neutral, and one of the mildest tonics in the materia medica. It supplements Qi,…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Skin dryness, Skin tightness, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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Tao Ren桃仁táo rénPrunus persica
Peach kernel is the seed within the stone of the peach, and it is the gentlest of the strong Blood movers. Bitter, slightly sweet and neutral in temperature, it enters the Heart…
Used for: Bruising, Purpura, Melasma, Keloids, Acne, Psoriasis
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Tian Hua Fen天花粉tiān huā fěnTrichosanthes kirilowii
The starchy white root of the vine that also yields the Gua Lou fruit, Tian Hua Fen has a narrow but definite place on the skin. It clears heat, reduces swelling and moves pus,…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Pustules, Hot skin swelling, Dry, hot skin
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Tian Ma天麻tiān máGastrodia elata
The tuber comes from a leafless orchid, and its work is with movement that has gone wrong: tremor, twitching, cramp, the crawling itch that shifts from place to place, and the…
Used for: Skin numbness, Thickened or insensitive skin, Skin tightness, Itchy scalp
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Tian Men Dong天门冬tiān mén dōngAsparagus cochinchinensis
Tian Men Dong is the fleshy tuber of a climbing asparagus, cold in nature and sweet with a bitter edge, entering the Lung and Kidney. Its work is to restore the moistening reserve…
Used for: Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin, Senile pruritus, Ichthyosis, Cracked skin
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Tian Nan Xing天南星tiān nán xīngArisaema erubescens
Tian Nan Xing is the arum tuber that the phlegm tradition keeps for the stubborn end of its range. Warm, bitter and acrid, it dries Dampness hard rather than gently, so what it…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Subcutaneous lumps and nodules, Localised skin swelling, Numb skin
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Ting Li Zi葶苈子tǐng lì zǐDescurainia sophia and Lepidium apetalum
Small, flat and brown, this seed comes from weeds of the mustard family and is cold, pungent and bitter. Of all the herbs that drain the Lung it acts most forcefully, and what it…
Used for: Facial Swelling, Skin Swelling, Swollen Ankle, Red And Swollen Feet
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Tu Fu Ling土茯苓tǔ fú língSmilax glabra
Tu Fu Ling is the starchy rhizome of a climbing smilax, neutral in temperature and sweet and bland in taste. Its work is to resolve damp-heat toxin that has become chronic and…
Used for: Eczema, Atopic dermatitis, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Acne, Boils, Skin abscess, Itchy genitalia
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Tu Si Zi菟丝子tù sī zǐCuscuta chinensis
Tu Si Zi is the seed of dodder, a leafless parasitic vine, and the tradition classifies it as a mild tonic of the Kidney and Liver. It is sweet and faintly acrid, neither hot nor…
Used for: Vitiligo, Melasma, Senile pruritus, Skin dryness
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Wei Ling Xian威灵仙wēi líng xiānClematis chinensis
Wei Ling Xian is the most forceful of the Wind-Dampness roots, warm and acrid, and its contribution to skin practice is about movement rather than inflammation. It is chosen where…
Used for: Chronic urticaria, Itchy skin, Skin numbness, Neurodermatitis, Skin tightness
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Wu Wei Zi五味子wǔ wèi zǐSchisandra chinensis
Wu Wei Zi is the sour, warm berry that holds things in, and its skin use follows from that single quality. The tradition gives it the job of stopping what leaks: sweat that runs…
Used for: Skin dryness, Dry and hot skin, Senile pruritus, Wrinkled and shrunken skin, Atopic dermatitis
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Wu Yao乌药wū yàoLindera aggregata
The dried tuberous root of a laurel-family shrub, Lindera is warm, strongly aromatic and acrid to the taste, and it works both upward on the Lung and downward through the Spleen,…
Used for: Chilblains, Raynaud's phenomenon, Mottled skin, Skin numbness
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Xi Xin细辛xì xīnAsarum heterotropoides
Xi Xin is a thin, dark, fiercely aromatic root, and the tradition gives it one quality above all others: penetration. Where cold has sunk deep enough to leave the skin numb,…
Used for: Raynaud's Disease, Chilblains, Chronic Urticaria, Skin Numbness, Itchy Skin
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Xi Yang Shen西洋参xī yáng shēnPanax quinquefolius
Xi Yang Shen is the cool ginseng. It tonifies Qi and nourishes Yin at the same time, which is why it suits a person who is tired and dry and running a little warm, rather than the…
Used for: Dry and hot skin, Warm skin, Skin tightness, Skin dryness, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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Xia Ku Cao夏枯草xià kū cǎoPrunella vulgaris
Xia Ku Cao is the brown flower head of a mint-family weed, cut as the plant withers at midsummer, and the tradition reads that timing as the herb's own signature: it suits heat…
Used for: Acne, Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Warts, Oily skin with facial flushing
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Xian He Cao仙鹤草xiān hè cǎoAgrimonia pilosa
Xian He Cao is agrimony, a rough-leaved wayside plant of the rose family with a binding, astringent taste and a neutral temperature. Skin practice uses it for skin that leaks:…
Used for: Itchy Skin, Skin Erosion, Eczema, Itchy Genitalia, Purpura
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Xian Mao仙茅xiān máoCurculigo orchioides
Xian Mao is a small, hot and acrid rhizome that warms the Kidney Yang and drives cold and dampness out of the limbs. Its skin use is narrow and always warming. It is chosen when…
Used for: Chilblains, Raynaud's disease, Scleroderma, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Skin numbness
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Xiang Fu香附xiāng fùCyperus rotundus
Xiang Fu is the Qi-moving rhizome of the materia medica, and its skin value lies in the relationship between constraint and the surface. When the Liver fails to keep Qi flowing,…
Used for: Melasma, Neurodermatitis, Chronic urticaria, Acne, Psoriasis
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Xiang Ru香薷xiāng rúElsholtzia ciliata
Xiang Ru is a small, sharply aromatic member of the mint family, slightly warm, and it enters the Lung and Stomach. Its traditional place is the hot damp season, when the surface…
Used for: Facial swelling, Skin swelling, Heat rash, Cool or clammy skin sensation
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Xie Bai薤白xiè báiAllium macrostemon
Xie Bai is the bulb of a wild onion, acrid and bitter, warm, and it enters the Heart, Lung, Stomach and Large Intestine. Its fame in Chinese medicine rests on the chest rather…
Used for: Chilblains, Raynaud's disease, Skin abscess, Purple face
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Xin Yi Hua辛夷花xīn yí huāMagnolia biondii
Xin Yi Hua is the closed, silky bud of a magnolia, warm and strongly aromatic, and its whole action is to open what is blocked in the upper body. The nose is its home ground, but…
Used for: Rosacea, Rhinophyma, Facial swelling, Face itching
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Xing Ren杏仁xìng rénPrunus armeniaca
Xing Ren is the bitter kernel inside the apricot stone, slightly warm and bitter, and its skin use follows the old principle that the Lung governs the skin and hair. When Lung Qi…
Used for: An itchy, dry face, Dry, rough skin, Cracked, fissured skin, Warm, heavy, damp skin, Chickenpox
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Xuan Shen玄参xuán shēnScrophularia ningpoensis
Xuan Shen does two jobs at once, and the second is what makes it useful on skin that has been inflamed for a while. It clears Heat from the Blood and resolves the toxin that keeps…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Dry and hot skin, Neurodermatitis, Psoriasis, Drug rash
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Yan Hu Suo延胡索yán hú suǒCorydalis yanhusuo
Yan Hu Suo is the tuber of a small poppy-family plant, warm, acrid and faintly bitter, and it moves both Qi and Blood. That double action is why it is the analgesic the tradition…
Used for: Bruising, Purpura, Keloids, Erythema nodosum
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Ye Ju Hua野菊花yě jú huāChrysanthemum indicum
Ye Ju Hua is the wild cousin of the chrysanthemum people drink as tea, and the contrast is the whole point: it is smaller, much more bitter and considerably more powerful against…
Used for: Boils, Folliculitis, Acne, Rosacea, Erysipelas, Eczema
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Yi Mu Cao益母草yì mǔ cǎoLeonurus japonicus
Yi Mu Cao is the dried aerial part of a mint-family weed, slightly cool and acrid with a bitter edge, entering the Heart, Liver and Bladder. Its fame is gynaecological, but the…
Used for: Skin rashes, Heat rash, Itchy skin, Bruising, Skin swelling
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Yi Yi Ren薏苡仁yì yǐ rénCoix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen
Yi Yi Ren, the grain known in English as job's tears, is both a staple food and a medicine in East Asia. In skin practice it works on dampness: it seeps moisture out through the…
Used for: Flat warts, Eczema, Tinea, Skin abscess, Damp itchy skin
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Yi Zhi Ren益智仁yì zhì rénAlpinia oxyphylla
Yi Zhi Ren is the dried fruit of a southern ginger, warm and pungent, and it reaches a skin page by the back door: it warms the Spleen and Kidney while it holds fluid in. Where…
Used for: Cool or clammy skin, Moist skin sensation, Chilblains, Wrinkled and shrunken skin
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Yin Chen茵陈yīn chénArtemisia capillaris
Yin Chen is the feathery spring shoot of a wormwood, slightly cool and bitter with a pungent edge, and its skin work comes out of the same action that made it famous: it separates…
Used for: Eczema, Itchy skin, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Heat rash, Itchy vesicular rashes
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Yin Yang Huo淫羊藿yín yáng huòEpimedium brevicornu
The epimedium leaf is one of the main warming tonics for the Kidney. The tradition gives the Kidney charge of the body's fire, and when that fire runs low the surface is the first…
Used for: Chilblains, Frostbite, Raynaud's Disease, Vitiligo, Cool Or Clammy Skin Sensation
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Yu Jin郁金yù jīnCurcuma wenyujin
Yu Jin is the tuber of a Curcuma species, cold in nature with an acrid and bitter taste, and it belongs among the herbs that move blood, with one difference: it is cooling rather…
Used for: Bruising, Purpura, Melasma, Purple or dusky face
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Yu Zhu玉竹yù zhúPolygonatum odoratum
A pale, translucent rhizome from a woodland Polygonatum, sweet and only slightly cool, Yu Zhu is the gentlest of the Yin-nourishing herbs. Its concern is fluid. Moisture is…
Used for: Skin Dryness, Skin Tightness, Wrinkled And Shrunken Skin, Melasma, Cracked Skin
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Yuan Zhi远志yuǎn zhìPolygala tenuifolia
Yuan Zhi is known mainly as a spirit-calming root, but its oldest surface use is the one that belongs on this page: it disperses swelling and draws out pus. A boil, a carbuncle or…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Pustules, Pus and discharge, Skin swelling
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Zao Jiao Ci皂角刺zào jiǎo cìGleditsia sinensis
Chinese honey locust gives this medicine its one unusual feature: what is used is a hardened spine rather than a root, leaf or fruit. The thorn's reputation rests on direction. It…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Pustules, Folliculitis, Cellulitis, Scabies
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Ze Xie泽泻zé xièAlisma orientale
Ze Xie is one of the plainest herbs in the materia medica: cold, bland and directed at water. In skin practice that makes it a drainer, used where Dampness is visible on the…
Used for: Eczema, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Jock itch, Itchy genitalia, Skin swelling
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Zhe Bei Mu浙贝母zhè bèi mǔFritillaria thunbergii
Chinese herbs for the skin Zhe Bei Mu 浙贝母 zhè bèi mǔ Fritillaria thunbergii Bulb Zhe Bei Mu is a bitter, cold fritillary bulb, and for the skin its work is narrower than its…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Sebaceous cysts, Folliculitis
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Zhen Zhu珍珠zhēn zhūPteria martensii or Hyriopsis cumingii (nacre)
Zhen Zhu is the nacre of the pearl oyster, and the tradition keeps it for two jobs: settling the mind and putting a fine powder on the face. It is cold, salty and sweet, it enters…
Used for: Dark face, Skin dryness, Acne
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Zhi Chuan Wu制川乌zhì chuān wūAconitum carmichaelii
Chinese herbs for the skin Zhi Chuan Wu 制川乌 zhì chuān wū Aconitum carmichaelii Processed mother root Zhi Chuan Wu is the processed mother root of Sichuan aconite, the strongest…
Used for: Chilblains, Skin numbness, Thickened or insensitive skin, Raynaud's disease
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Zhi Fu Zi制附子zhì fù zǐAconitum carmichaelii
Zhi Fu Zi is prepared aconite, the hottest and most dangerous root in the materia medica, and its place on a skin page is narrow and specific: skin that is cold. Not dry, not red,…
Used for: Raynaud's disease, Chilblains, Skin numbness, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Cyanosis
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Zhi Ke枳壳zhǐ kéCitrus aurantium
Zhi Ke is the dried fruit of the bitter orange, picked just before it ripens, bitter, acrid and sour, slightly cool, and entering the Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine and Lung.…
Used for: Urticaria, Neurodermatitis, Skin rashes, Itchy skin
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Zhi Mu知母zhī mǔAnemarrhena asphodeloides
Chinese herbs for the skin Zhi Mu 知母 zhī mǔ Anemarrhena asphodeloides Rhizome The pale, fibrous rhizome of a grass-like plant of the dry northern hills is one of the coldest…
Used for: Dry and hot skin, Eczema, Urticaria, Itchy genitalia
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Zhi Shi枳实zhǐ shíCitrus aurantium
Chinese herbs for the skin Zhi Shi 枳实 zhǐ shí Citrus aurantium Immature fruit Zhi Shi is the green, hard, unripe fruit of the bitter orange, and its nature is to break Qi…
Used for: Itchy skin, Urticaria, Acne, Sebaceous cysts, Subcutaneous lipomas and nodules, Seborrhoeic dermatitis
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Zhi Zi栀子zhī ziGardenia jasminoides
Chinese herbs for the skin Zhi Zi 栀子 zhī zi Gardenia jasminoides Fruit Zhi Zi is the dried fruit of the gardenia, a bitter, cold and unmistakably yellow medicine that clears heat…
Used for: Acne, Rosacea, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Erythema multiforme, Urticaria
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Zhu Ru竹茹zhú rúPhyllostachys nigra
Zhu Ru is the middle layer of the bamboo stem, scraped into thin shavings, slightly cool and sweet. It is not a herb with a skin reputation of its own; it enters skin practice…
Used for: Acne, Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Dandruff, Skin swelling, Sebaceous cysts
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Zhu Ye竹叶zhú yèPhyllostachys nigra var. henonis
Zhu Ye is the leaf of a tall bamboo, thin, light and cold, and its skin work follows from where it goes rather than from any strong action on the surface. It clears heat from the…
Used for: Atopic dermatitis, Heat rash, Itchy skin with restlessness, Nappy rash in a hot, restless infant
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Zi Cao紫草zǐ cǎoArnebia euchroma
Chinese herbs for the skin Zi Cao 紫草 zǐ cǎo Arnebia euchroma Root Zi Cao is the arnebia root, a cold, sweet and salty herb whose deep purple-red dye is a clue to its work: it…
Used for: Purpura, Petechiae, Macular rash, Skin burns, Boils, Skin erosion, Erythema multiforme, Drug rash
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Zi Hua Di Ding紫花地丁zǐ huā dīngViola yedoensis
A small spring violet supplies this medicine, and its skin brief is narrow and pointed. It is called on where Heat has become destructive: a boil with a hard deep root, a…
Used for: Boils, Skin abscess, Impetigo, Erysipelas, Cellulitis, Pustules
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Zi Su Ye紫苏叶zǐ sū yèPerilla frutescens
Zi Su Ye is perilla leaf, the warm, aromatic leaf sold in bunches as a culinary herb and used in medicine for the same qualities. On the skin its role is narrow but clear. It…
Used for: Urticaria, Itchy skin, Cool or clammy skin sensation, Macular rash
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Zi Su Zi紫苏子zǐ sū zǐPerilla frutescens
Zi Su Zi is the seed of perilla, a warm, aromatic, oily kernel that is eaten as food and used in medicine to bring Lung Qi downward. Its skin role is narrow and it is easily…
Used for: Skin dryness, Senile pruritus, Itchy skin, Cracked skin
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Zi Wan紫菀zǐ wǎnAster tataricus
Zi Wan, the dried root and rhizome of the Tatarian aster, is a Lung herb used for cough, and it appears on a skin page only because the tradition treats the Lung as the organ that…
Used for: Skin dryness, Atopic dermatitis, Senile pruritus, Cracked skin