Kufan, also known as calcined alum, is made by heating and melting clean white alum in a sand pot until it becomes dry and brittle. It is then removed and becomes irregularly shaped crystals of varying sizes. Kufan is colorless, transparent or semi-transparent, with a slightly smooth or uneven surface. It has fine vertical edges and a glass-like luster.
Detoxification and Insecticidal Effects
Kufan has the effects of relieving phlegm, drying dampness, stopping diarrhea, stopping bleeding, detoxification, and killing insects. It can be used to treat epilepsy, throat obstruction, excessive phlegm, hepatitis, jaundice, edema, gastric and duodenal ulcers, uterine prolapse, and other symptoms, effectively controlling diseases.
Treatment of Stroke
Kufan can also be used to treat symptoms such as aphasia, drowsiness, and excessive phlegm caused by stroke. For example, take two liang of white alum (raw), and one liang of fresh ginger. Grind the white alum into powder, then add it to a concentrated decoction of ginger and filter it. Divide into three doses and administer it quickly. The patient should expectorate the phlegm and toxins, and the wind will stop and the treatment will be effective. If the patient is weak and unable to tolerate strong emetic drugs, do not force vomiting, as it may worsen the condition.
Treatment of Phlegm Epilepsy
Kufan can also be used to treat phlegm epilepsy. Take one liang of raw white alum and five qian of fine tea, mix them together and refine them into honey pills about the size of a wuzi seed. Children under one year old should take ten pills with tea. Adults should take fifty-nine pills and continue taking them until phlegm is discharged in the stool.
Treatment of Acute and Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media
Kufan can be used to treat acute and chronic suppurative otitis media. The method is to grind two qian of kufan, four fen of camphor, and five fen of gallnuts into fine powder. After drying the purulent secretions in the external auditory canal with a cotton swab, blow the medicine into the ear canal three times a day.
