Formulas · Tonify Yang 補陽 · Uihak Immun (醫學入門)

Repel Age, Blacken the Beard, Fortify Yang Elixir

Gangnoosugeonyang-dan

한글 각로오수건양단 · Pinyin Que Lao Wu Xu Jian Yang Dan

却老烏鬚健陽丹

Composition 構成

Hasuo He Shou Wu
何首烏 하수오 · Fleeceflower Root

1200 g
Chief 君 red and white fleeceflower root, 1 geun each — see note
Jeokbokryeong Chi Fu Ling
赤茯苓 적복령 · Poria (red)

600 g
Deputy 臣 simmered dry in 5 seung of cow's milk
Baekbokryeong Fu Ling
白茯苓 백복령 · Poria (white)

600 g
Deputy 臣 simmered dry in 5 seung of human milk
Useul Niu Xi
牛膝 우슬 · Achyranthes

300 g
Deputy 臣 steamed twice with black soybean juice
Tosaja Tu Si Zi
菟絲子 토사자 · Cuscuta

300 g
Assistant 佐兎絲子
Bogolji Bu Gu Zhi
補骨脂 보골지 · Psoralea

300 g
Assistant 佐破故紙
Uyu Niu Ru
牛乳 우유 · Cow's Milk

500 g
Envoy 使 as the processing medium for red poria
Inyubun Ren Ru Fen
人乳粉 인유분 · Human Milk Powder (historical)

500 g
Envoy 使 as the processing medium for white poria; historical

Total 4300 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Turns white beard and hair black
Warms and supplements Kidney yang
Secures essence

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Greying with yang vacuity
Hair whitening with cold and weakness below
Kidney yang depletion

Biomedical correlates

Premature greying with hypogonadal features

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

能變白鬚髮令黑. 赤何首烏ㆍ白何首烏各一斤, 牛膝八兩(以黑豆汁拌蒸二次), 赤茯苓(用牛乳五升)ㆍ白茯苓(人乳汁五升, 各以文武火煮乾) 各一斤, 兎絲子ㆍ破故紙各八兩. 右爲末, 蜜丸彈子大, 每服一丸, 溫酒化下, 日二次. 或生地黃, 熟地黃各一斤加入, 尤妙. 《入門》

Translation

Able to turn white beard and hair black. Red fleeceflower root and white fleeceflower root 1 geun each; achyranthes 8 nyang (mixed with black soybean juice and steamed twice); red poria (with 5 seung of cow's milk) and white poria (with 5 seung of human milk, each simmered dry over gentle then vigorous fire) 1 geun each; cuscuta and psoralea 8 nyang each. Powder the above, form into honey pills the size of a bullet, and take one pill each time dissolved in warm wine, twice daily. Adding raw and prepared rehmannia 1 geun each is better still. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Mobal)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Built entirely on paired opposites — red and white fleeceflower root, red and white poria, cow's milk and human milk — which is the formula's organizing idea rather than a pharmacological one: the pairs are meant to supply both halves of a divided whole. Red and white fleeceflower root are the same species (Polygonum multiflorum) distinguished by tuber colour, and modern practice does not separate them; both are entered here as hasuo with the distinction kept in the preparation field. Human milk is historical. The romanization is a trap worth noting: 却老 is read gangno, not gakro, because the final consonant assimilates before the following liquid. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.