Calamine, Lu Gan Shi 炉甘石

Lapis Calminaris, Smithsonite, Zinc spar
Lu Gan Shi (TCM)
Gangs Thigs  གངས་ཐིགས  (‘Drops of Snow’, Tibetan)
Rasaka, Kharpara (Ayurveda)
Picture Smithsonite
(Photo: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com)

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Mineralogical name:
Calamina; Smithsonitum

Temperature & Taste:


Cool, dry. Sweet

Classifications:


2T. GLUTINATE    2Z. CICATRIZING
4b. OPTHALMICS
TCM:
T. External Medicines

Uses:


1. Clears Heat, Clears the Eyes, Removes Films (West, TCM, Ayurveda, Ancient Egypt):
-red, swollen eyes, Conjunctivitis

2. Dries Damp, Promotes Growth of Flesh:

3. Clears Heat, Promotes Healing:
    
4. Clears Heat and Damp:

5. Rasayana (Bhasma, Ayurveda):


Dose:


Mostly used externally.

Preparation:


… available in PRO version
Picture

Main Combinations:


For the Eyes:
1. Sore, red, inflamed eyes and for poor or weak eyesight:
i. the finely levigated powder … available in PRO version
ii. Calcined Calamine … available in PRO version
iii. heat a 3 oz. piece of calamine … available in PRO version
iv. Sore, red eyes, superficial visual obstructions and excess tearing, combine Calamine with … available in PRO version
v. Calamine, … available in PRO version
vi. hot water infusion of calcined Calamine and … available in PRO version

Other:
2. Chronic Fever, Typhoid Fever, weakness after diseases, as a tonic during pregnancy and for Pediatric diseases, combine purified Calamine with … available in PRO version
3. ‘The best tonic in chronic diseases’; also for chronic Lung diseases including chronic Cough, Asthma, Phthisis, combine Calamine Bhasma with … available in PRO version
4. Diarrhea and Dysentery, Calamine with … available in PRO version

Externally:
5. Chronic Ulcers and Eczema, combine Calamine with … available in PRO version
6. Chronic Eczema, Acne Rosacea, red and inflamed skin, combine Calamine with … available in PRO version
7. Burns, excoriations, sores, superficial Ulcers, Calamine with … available in PRO version
8. Burns, Calamine topically with … available in PRO version
9. Ear infection with discharge, Calamine with … available in PRO version

Major Formulas:


Eyewash of Calamine
Crystal Moon 37 (Zla shel so bdun) (Tibetan Medicine)

Cautions:


1. In TCM it is only used externally.
2. Only applied to the eyes when finely levigated or it can cause damage.

Main Preparations used:


Cerate, Plaster, Ointment
1. Zinc therapy in dermatology: a review.
2. Calamine lotion to reduce skin irritation in children with cast immobilisation.
3. Processing of calamine with modern analytical techniques: Processed with Huanglian Decoction and Sanhuang Decoction.
4. Processing mechanism of calamine.
5. [Analysis on processing mechanism of calamine].