Someone once said with a smile: In China, elderly people who have not used plasters can apply for a "rare animal" label. Although it is a laugh, it also reflects the widespread use of plasters in our country. Ancient medical experts said: "Plasters can cure diseases. There is no special decoction, and the method is effective." Compared with injections and medicine, plasters are convenient, painless, and easier to accept. Especially the elderly who often suffer from backaches have a soft spot for plasters and keep them at home.
Plaster is one of the five major dosage forms of Chinese medicine-pill, powder, ointment, pill, and soup. There are records of plasters in the medical literature "Huangdi Neijing", "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", "Difficulty" and other works that appeared in the Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasties. The plaster at this time is an ointment such as pig fat ointment. An ointment such as pig fat ointment is recorded in the "Internal Classics", called "hog ointment", which is used to treat small axillary ulcers.
Alchemy was popular in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and black plasters have appeared. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the preparation of black plasters was gradually perfected, and medicine flourished. There were more and more types of plasters, and the scope of treatment became wider and wider. Abscessed boils are widely used for "suppression and removal of poison". It has become one of the common medicines in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. By the Qing Dynasty, plaster had developed into a common folk medicine, and it was one of the commonly used external treatment measures. In modern times, the use of black plasters has been greatly reduced due to the development of decoctions. After the appearance of modern rubber plasters, black plasters have almost disappeared from hospitals and only circulated among the people.