Prickly heat

Also prickly heat toxin. A disease characterized by red papules attended with itching and tingling. Prickly heat occurs mostly in hot summer months and is attributed to brewing summerheat-damp that inhibits sweating. It most commonly affects infants and obese people and affects the head, neck, abdomen, back, shoulder, and groin. It appears as red papules the size of millet seeds, which quickly turn into water vesicles or pustulesand are associated with itching and scorching heat. Scratching can cause the development of a prickly heat toxin (sore), equivalent to hidradenitis spoken of in Western medicine.

Medicinal therapy: Treat by taking orally a decoction of forsythia (Forsythiae Fructus, 连翘 lián qiào), trichosanthes root (Trichosanthis Radix, 天花粉 tiān huā fěn), red peony (Paeoniae Radix Rubra, 赤芍药 chì sháo yào), licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix, 甘草 gān cǎo), talcum (Talcum, 滑石 huá shí), plantago (Plantaginis Herba, 车前 chē qián), lonicera (Lonicerae Flos, 金银花 jīn yín huā), alisma (Alismatis Rhizoma, 泽泻 zé xiè), and lophatherum (Lophatheri Herba, 淡竹叶 dàn zhú yè) or make a soup of mung bean (Phaseoli Radiati Semen, 绿豆 lǜ dòu), with mint (Menthae Herba, 薄荷 bò hé) and sugar added.