Your Own Saliva Better For Wound Healing Than Yunnan Baiyao Alone

There are a few herbal formulas within Chinese Medicine that are worth their weight in gold.  Yin qiao and/or Gan Mao Ling for colds/flus, Bao Ji Wan for food poisioning/acute digestive disturbances, and Yunnan Baiyao for acute bleeding, among others...  In our clinic many of our patients, particularly those prone to getting cuts and scrapes such as construction workers, landscapers, etc. are aware of Yunnan Baiyao.  We usually tell them to first rinse the wound if possible, then pour some of the Yunnan Baiyao powder on the wound and then rub in some saliva, then cover lightly.  The bleeding stops quickly and the wound heals easily time and time again.  Yunnan Baiyao is a top level Chinese military secret, originally developed for healing gun shot wounds in battle, and there is only one manufacturer.

Researchers from the Department of Pathology within the College of Medicine at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an Shaanxi China recently conducted a study comparing just the simple of use of saliva alone vs. yunnan baiyao by itself.  Using an animal model they created three treatment groups to treat the wounds 2.5cm x 2.5cm in size.  One group was administered saline, another yunnan baiyao powder and another human saliva.  They were treated for 15 days and measurements were taken regarding absence of infection, wound healing rate, etc.

They found that both the saliva group and the Yunnan Baiyao group healed faster than the control group.  But interestingly the wound healing rates were higher in the saliva group at days 5, 8 and 11 than the Yunnan Baiyao group and the saliva group showed less inflammation.  They concluded that simple saliva can increase wound healing rates, reduce inflammation, and help prevent infection.

I still feel that Yunnan Baiyao will stop bleeding faster than saliva would alone, but am happy to see that mixing it with our own saliva is more than just a old folk remedy with no truth behind it.  Further studies should be done to guage the effect on bleeding cessation rates.