What are the types of medical herbal therapy preparations

The medical herbal therapy preparations currently used in domestic clinical compliance are mainly divided into three categories: oral administration, external use, and injection according to the administration scenario. This is also the most commonly used classification logic by clinical practitioners. Of course, some scholars on the research and development side will classify them according to the accuracy of extraction of active ingredients, but this type of classification is rarely used in clinical diagnosis and treatment scenarios.

When people go to the hospital to treat colds and gastrointestinal discomfort, they often receive granules, oral liquids, and tablets, as well as vacuum-packed medicinal liquids prescribed by veteran Chinese medicine practitioners based on syndrome differentiation, and even customized ointments prescribed in autumn and winter. These are all medical herbal preparations for oral administration. When I was attending a community outpatient clinic, I encountered patients with sore throat due to wind-heat and red and swollen tonsils. I prescribed Lanqin oral liquid combined with lozenges, and most people experienced significant relief in three to five days. This type of preparation has been processed and extracted in a standardized way, and has fewer impurities. It is much more stable than boiling some honeysuckle water at home, and adverse reactions are rare.

Compared with internal use, medical herbal preparations for external use are applicable to a wider range of scenarios. Yunnan Baiyao aerosol and Kangfuxin liquid that many people keep at home, as well as herbal anti-itch creams commonly prescribed by dermatology departments, Sophora flavescens gel for gynecology, and even acupoint application mud used by acupuncture departments during the dog days, all fall into this category. Last month, a child spilled some boiling water and had a superficial second-degree burn to change the dressing. We used Kangfuxin solution to apply wet compresses twice a day. The healing speed was nearly one-third faster than conventional iodophor care. There was no obvious pigmentation after recovery. The parents were particularly satisfied.

The most controversial ones are herbal injections. As herbal preparations with the highest extraction accuracy, injections such as Xiyanping and Qingkailing were very effective in dealing with high fever and severe respiratory infections in the early years, and many grassroots hospitals used to use them. However, there have been many reports of allergic adverse reactions in the past few years. Now the industry is divided into two groups. One group believes that as long as the quality control of raw materials is strictly carried out and the indications and drip speed are controlled according to clinical standards, the benefits far outweigh the risks. The other group believes that herbal preparations with complex ingredients are not suitable for injection administration and their use should be restricted because the allergens are uncontrollable. Nowadays, clinical control over such preparations is also very strict. They can only be used in second-level and above hospitals with emergency conditions. Our grassroots outpatient clinics have long stopped carrying such drugs.

In fact, no matter what type of medical herbal preparations, the core is based on modern technological improvements based on traditional herbal theories. The effectiveness and safety are much more reliable than homemade herbal prescriptions. However, the premise is that they must be used in regular medical institutions in accordance with the doctor's instructions. Buying and using them on your own can easily lead to problems.