Black eyes and boiled eggs?

[Mushroom]

I recently got a black eye. A small bruise on the side of my eyelid.
First thing I thought was of boiling an egg and rubbing the bruise- Thing is.....exactly what does it do?

I only see people do that in the movies :D

(I'm 25 years old , spar weekly and this is my first black eye, ever. Never even had one when I was a kid and I used to fall off trees for fun.) :cool:

[gerard]

Maybe you should use dit da jow next time to avoid that.

:D

[lhommedieu]

I've heard of Thai boxers using it. In Chinese medicine, the peeled boiled egg is soaked in an herbal decoction, and applied to black eyes. I'm not sure if I'd apply die da jiu to an eye injury - it might sting.

Best,

Steve Lamade

[Blooming Lotus]

lol.........That's quite bizzare really...or extremely creative at a humourous worst.

I've never heard of the treatment myself but I guess the reason it works is because of the interaction between the protein in the blood ( which is what the bruise is ..... as in blood pooled closer to the skin surface) and the protein in the egg which would be activated with the heat the herbs generate to begin the breakdown by the estringency of the herbs the practioner would soak it in. The only reason I know that is because in stain removal ( according to my year 8 home ec teacher ;) :) ) , if you have a blood stain , it's recommended to soak it in milk..... Then in the wash, like with the herbs, the estringent activates the break down and same with metabolically in your diet.

Hope that didn't confuse you too much but there you go . Sounds like a safe option for the area anyway. ;)


Blooming Lotus

[Blooming Lotus]

I was just now considering what I was going to eat and it dawned on me that you might want to know what exactly to soak and simmer it in ( simmer to aide the infusion of the herb into the egg) . I think than more estringent in this case, something tangy, bitey sweet and green should do the job . Simmer for about an hour or two over a mid-low heat and then mash it up into a poultice with the herbs in the pot. Once you have this, massage it gentlely into the area . Great trick you just uncovered so cheers from me aswell. ;) :D



BL

[lhommedieu]

LoL

Does this mean that I'm going to end up with egg on my face? Actually the boiled egg is supposed to be held by a piece of gauze and dabbed lightly on the affected region. I think it's rather elegant that the contours of the egg match the orbital socket so neatly. Egg white is considered to be astringent. I don't think the herbs in question would be warming - they probably have anti-inflamatory properties.

Best,

Steve

[Mushroom]

One of my chefs told me that freshly made Boiled White rice is good for black eyes too.

I havent heard of covering the egg with herbs or anything like that. Literally just shell the egg, wrap it in a cloth and rub away.

Well the black eye went in like 2 days.

Anyone else got any weird remedies? :D:D

[Blooming Lotus]

Bruises heal by drawing the blood back away from the surface . Sometimes the blood needs to be de-coagulated or broken up or down first. Usually this would require heat or massage and sometimes a cooling agent ( like those hot / cold linaments and menthols that feel so good ). It sounds to me on tcm terms that on the egg variations you're both describing cooling principals. Really that would be more directed to swelling than bruising and considering that we're talking about an eye anti-inflamatory preparations are dubious.

Good point though. Keep the egg whole and chill it first even if you like. The cold though would change the whole chemistry of the interaction but I can see how a few adjustments to what you simmered it in would work differently for different types of injury.

Seems a handy field for an maer to know about .

cheers and keep it rolling .

BL

[lhommedieu]

I guess it would depend upon which stage of injury we're talking about. In TCM the herbs for acute injury would generally be cooling herbs to reduce Heat, as well as others move Blood and Qi. Ju Hua (Chrysanthemum), for example, is used to clear Heat (and is specifically indicated for red, painful eyes), while Bai Ji Li reduces swelling.

I think that I am indicating a treatment for a recently acquired "black eye" (right after getting hit) and not the classic one that will be seen in a week or so. To break up the latter kind of bruising, different catagories of herbs would be used.

Best,

Steve

[Chimpcheng]

How weird,

Whenever I used to get black eyes (which was frequent :rolleyes: ), my dad used to get a boiled egg or boiled rice or even both, wrap them up in a cloth and get me to rub it on my eye.

Apart from burning my face and smelling of egg and rice, I'm not sure it really did anything. It's my understanding that cold (such as that from ice packs) helps to reduce the swelling.

[Blooming Lotus]

It does. When we're talking about bruising though ( which makes it 2 seperate sysmtoms to treat) it becomes more of a case of heat the blood ( hence the rice ) and get it to move away from the surface to disipate into or be flushed out of the system. You can flush internally with alot of fluid or you can manipulate the cirulatory influence through massage. Applying cold packs then breaking it up with massage and a good balm is the same thing but just slightly different method.

[Albert]

Maybe you should use dit da jow next time to avoid that

lol....... that was a joke rite?