Peng Sha硼砂
Borax · Borax · Sodium Borate · Yue Shi
Overview
- ·.*
A colourless crystalline salt, also called — sodium borate. Sweet, salty and cool, it clears heat, resolves toxin, reduces swelling and keeps a preparation from spoiling. Its classical home is the mouth and throat: it is the working partner of borneol in Bing Peng San 冰硼散, the powder blown onto a swollen sore throat, an aphthous ulcer or a raw tongue, and it was also compounded into eye preparations for redness and superficial film. A smaller internal use existed for hot phlegm cough. Borax is not a heavy metal, but it is not innocuous either — borate poisoning is a real and well-described entity, it is particularly dangerous to infants, and borates are restricted as reproductive toxicants in several regulatory systems.
Nature & Flavor
Sweet, salty · Cool · ToxicChannels
Lung · StomachTypical Dosage
1.5–3 gActions
4 core actions
- Clears heat, resolves toxin in the mouth and throatSwollen painful throat, mouth and tongue ulcers, gum swelling and gangrenous gum disease — the powder applied directly, classically with borneol as Bing Peng San.
- Reduces swelling, checks putrefactionSores and ulcerated surfaces, and the preservative role that made it a standard component of compounded external preparations.
- Clears the eyesRed painful eyes and superficial film, in classical eye preparations — which, like all ophthalmic use, means a properly manufactured product.
- Transforms hot phlegmThe classical internal use for cough with thick, hard, hot phlegm. It is the smallest part of the herb's practice and the part that carries the toxicity.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Peng Sha
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Sore swollen throat, mouth and tongue ulcers, gum swelling (external use)
- Ulcerated sores and surfaces needing an antiseptic dusting powder (external use)
- Red eyes and superficial film (classical ophthalmic use, in a manufactured preparation)
- Cough with thick hot phlegm (classical internal use, small dose, short course)
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
Peng Sha is toxic when swallowed. It is safe-seeming because it is a household chemical, and that is exactly why poisonings have happened.
- Never give it to infants or small children in any form. Borax poisoning in infants — historically from borax-and-honey preparations put on a dummy or on sore gums — caused vomiting, a striking bright red rash that later peels, seizures, kidney failure and deaths. This is the single most important line in this entry.
- Acute poisoning from a swallowed excess causes nausea, vomiting (sometimes blue-green), diarrhoea, headache and restlessness, a widespread red 'boiled lobster' rash with later skin peeling, seizures, and acute kidney injury.
- Chronic use accumulates. Boron is cleared by the kidney; repeated dosing produces poor appetite, weight loss, nausea, dry skin and hair loss, and it accumulates further where kidney function is reduced. Do not take it as a course, and do not exceed 1.5–3 g a day.
- Do not use it internally at all in kidney impairment, in pregnancy or breastfeeding, in children, or in the debilitated.
- Reproductive toxicity. Borates are classified as reproductive toxicants in several regulatory systems on the basis of animal studies, and their use in cosmetics and consumer products is restricted accordingly. Avoid internal use in anyone who is pregnant, trying to conceive, or breastfeeding.
- External use is the safe use, but not on everything. Do not apply it over large raw or ulcerated areas or on burns, where absorption is significant. Keep it in the mouth briefly and have the patient spit rather than swallow; children swallow rinses.
- Store it labelled and away from food. Household borax products are not medicinal grade and must not be substituted.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: Avoid internal use in pregnancy and while breastfeeding — borates are classified as reproductive toxicants and boron crosses the placenta. External use in the mouth or on a small area is a practitioner's judgement, kept brief and not swallowed.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Peng Sha appears in the Chinese materia medica from the Tang–Song period onward; accounts of the first source text differ and it is not asserted here.
2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
3. 《中华人民共和国药典》(external use; the 1.5–3 g internal limit).
4. Infant deaths from borax-containing oral preparations are documented in the paediatric literature; national poisons centres carry current borate exposure guidance.
5. Borates are restricted as reproductive toxicants under several chemical-regulatory frameworks — confirm the position that applies where you practise.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.