Treatment of leprosy wounds with “Jinchuang ointment”, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine complex

Summary Non-healing ulcers are frequently seen in leprosy, which become one of the major causes of disability. For more than a decade, Jinchuang ointment, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine has been successfully used to treat non-healing wounds and pressure sores of diabetics in several hospitals in Taiwan. The recipe of this herbal medicine was first published in 1732. The object of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of this herbal medicine for the treatment of chronic non-healing ulcers of leprosy patients, present for up to ten years. They were already given up by other physicians to treat their wounds. Four patients with an average age of 86 were treated in this study. Our results show that Jinchuang ointment provides a feasible, safe, simple and low-cost method to treat leprosy ulcers. Due to its low cost, this traditional Chinese medicine might play an important role in treating leprosy ulcers in low income countries in the future.