Back to search result Search again Previous Next ↑

A condition attributable to the accumulation of breast milk arising after delivery when either there is no child to feed or the mother produces more milk than the child can take and characterized by hard painful distended breasts that cannot bear even the slightest touch. Small sores may grow on the nipples that may be sore or itchy and that, when scratched, exude yellow water that causes them to spread.

Medicinal therapy: Clear heat and resolve toxin. Use Forsythia Powder (连翘散 lián qiào sǎn) from The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn). If ruptured, apply Deerhorn Powder (鹿角散 lù jiǎo sǎn) which consists of deerhorn (Cervi Cornu, 鹿角 lù jiǎo) and licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix, 甘草 gān cǎo) ground to a powder and mixed with egg yolk (Galli Vitellus, 鸡子黄 jī zǐ huáng). See mammary welling-abscess.

Etymology

Chinese: 妬 (same as 妒) dù, jealous; 乳 rǔ, breast, milk. Possibly so called because the breast is, as it were, jealously withholding, i.e., reluctant to release, milk.

Back to search result Search again Previous Next