Calomel – 1 lb (454 g)

Calomel, known in Chinese as 轻粉 (Qīngfěn) and scientifically as Calomelas, is a valued herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This TCM herb has been traditionally used to support natural wellness, maintain vitality, and encourage holistic balance. At TCMforyou.com, we provide premium-quality Calomel carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Calomel helps promote overall well-being and supports natural energy, immunity, and balance. Integrating this herb into your wellness routine offers a gentle, time-tested approach to enhancing daily health. Whether brewed as tea, added to herbal remedies, or taken as part of a TCM formula, Calomel provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Calomel has been used in TCM to harmonize the body and encourage optimal functioning of key systems. At TCMforyou, we prioritize authenticity and quality. Each batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure purity and potency, delivering an herbal product aligned with traditional practices.

Experience the natural support of Calomel, promoting immune health, vitality, and holistic well-being. Embrace the wisdom of TCM and incorporate this gentle, effective herbal remedy into your daily wellness journey.

[Overview] This product is also known as Mercury Powder, Mercuric Powder, Silver Powder, and Sweet Mercury. It is crystalline mercurous chloride refined by sublimation. It is mainly produced in Wuhan (Hubei), Xiangtan (Hunan), Chongqing, Tianjin, Anguo (Hebei), Kunming (Yunnan), and other places. Calomel is an artificially refined product traditionally prepared from mercury, copper sulfate, and common salt.

[Properties] Pungent in taste, cold in nature, toxic. Enters the Liver, Kidney, and Large Intestine meridians.

[Actions] Attacks toxins and corrodes putrefaction; kills parasites and relieves itching; resolves phlegm and promotes urination; facilitates bowel movements.

[Applications]
1. Used for carbuncles, sores, ulcers, redness, swelling, and ulceration. Clinically mainly used externally, for example, for ulcerated sores with redness, swelling, heat, and pain, often combined with gypsum, borneol, dragon’s blood, frankincense ground into powder for external application, such as in Qingru Shengji San (轻乳生肌散). For lower limb ulceration, it can be combined with catechu, dragon’s blood, gallnut, orpiment, and potassium alum ground into powder, placed between oiled paper and applied to the affected area. If the ulcer is ulcerated with necrotic flesh removed but new flesh does not grow and the wound does not close for a long time, it can be combined with pearl powder ground together and applied to the lesion, such as in Yuebai Zhenzhu San (月白珍珠散). For yellow watery sores, pustular sores, and other skin toxins causing infiltration and erosion, it is often combined with Phellodendron bark, gypsum, indigo naturalis, and clam shell powder.
2. Used for scabies, eczema, and genital itching. For treating dry and wet tinea sores, it can be combined with slaked lime, lead oxide ointment, and sulfur ground into powder and mixed with raw oil for topical application, such as in Rusheng San (如圣散). For all kinds of dry and wet tinea sores, such as urticaria and skin itching, it can be made into a powder with calcined gypsum and Angelica dahurica for external dusting, such as in Sanshi San (三石散). For itching sores in the genital area, it can be combined with apricot kernel, mercury, and realgar ground into powder, mixed with jujube paste into pills, wrapped in cotton, and used as vaginal suppositories, such as in Yinxing San (银杏散).
3. Used for alcoholic rhinitis and acne. Calomel can be incorporated into facial medicines or combined with rhubarb and sulfur ground into powder, applied with cool water before sleep, washed off the next morning, then dusted with dry powder.
4. Used for phlegm obstruction causing cough and asthma, edema and fullness, convulsions, and epilepsy. For acute phlegm and sputum causing asthma and dyspnea with inability to lie flat, it is steamed with egg white and eaten, such as in Qingfen Ding. For edema and fullness with difficulty in urination and defecation, it is often combined with Euphorbia kansui, Croton tiglium, Daphne genkwa, and Morning Glory seed. For phlegm-heat convulsions and epilepsy, it can be combined with Arisaema cum Bile, indigo naturalis, and scorpion.
Currently, clinically calomel mixed with talcum powder in appropriate amounts is ground into powder and rubbed on the armpits to treat bromhidrosis with certain efficacy.

[Dosage and Administration] External use: appropriate amount, ground into powder and applied as a paste or sprinkled. Internal use: in pills or powders, 0.06–0.15 g, not used in decoctions.

[Cautions] Mainly for external use, but external use should not be excessive or prolonged. Internal use should be cautious, with immediate mouth rinsing after ingestion. Contraindicated in pregnant women, children, and those with weak constitutions.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical constituents mainly contain mercurous chloride.
2. Pharmacological effects: Calomel suspension shows significant inhibitory effects in vitro against Escherichia coli, Proteus species, beta-hemolytic streptococcus, and Staphylococcus aureus; its infusion in test tubes also inhibits Trichophyton violaceum and Microsporum canis to varying degrees; it has laxative and diuretic effects; direct application of calomel to damaged skin causes obvious tissue degeneration and necrosis but does not harm healthy skin.
3. Clinical reports: (1) Tinea versicolor: equal parts of calomel and cuttlebone powder. First, the cuttlebone is roasted and ground into powder, then mixed evenly with calomel and stored in a bottle. The affected area is cleaned first, then an appropriate amount is dusted and rubbed onto the tinea versicolor lesions; mild sweating enhances efficacy. A total of 31 cases were treated, with 1 treatment curing initial cases, up to 3 treatments curing all, and no recurrences. [Xin Zhong Yi, 1988, (10):11] (2) Neurodermatitis: calomel 15 g, borneol 9 g, myrrh 15 g, each detoxified and ground into fine powder, mixed with raw lettuce oil into a paste and applied to lesions. A total of 43 cases treated, with 24 cured with necrosis resolved, 9 markedly effective, 8 improved, 2 ineffective; cure rate 55.8%, effective rate for tissue regeneration 95.4%. [Guizhou Medicine, 1980, (1):35]