An exposition to promote Thai herbs and traditional medicine next month will showcase use of a herb that can help repair vaginal slackness after giving birth.
The 11th National Herb Expo 2014 will be held at Impact Muang Thong Thani from Sept 3 to 7.
It will feature different herbal treatment products for women, and one of the highlights will be the use of hee yum grass (หญ้า ฮี ยุ่ม), also known as vaginal repair grass, Tawatchai Kamoltham, director-general of the Department for Development of Thai Traditional Medicine and Alternative Medicine, said.
Pakakrong Kwankhao, a pharmacist at Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital, said hee yum grass can help restore vaginal muscle tissue and tightness.
The woman is required to sit on a chair over a fire giving off smoke from the medicinal herb.
Ms Pakakrong said the herb can help reduce prolapse – a condition in which the womb falls out of its normal position. It can also help a woman feel young again, she added.
The scientific name of the plant is Centotheca lappacea, a genus in the Poaceae family. The grass has a silica content, which helps the skin become more firm and elastic.
Pitak Teelek, a pharmacist in the Thai traditional medicine branch, said patients, particularly post-partum women, sit on a chair with a hole in the seat during the vaginal repair treatment. Dried hee yum is placed in a smoke pot under the chair. It is a daily treatment, usually no more than 15 days.
The patients can wash in water boiled with hee yum, but before they wash they should drink three gulps of water boiled with the herbal grass. This creates a balance inside and outside the body, Mr Pitak said.
Ground hee yum can be used to disinfect and heal open wounds for both men and women, he added.
Putthaporn Khoonsuk, aged 56, said she used hee yum to firm up the muscles of her vaginal walls after giving birth.
“After giving birth, there were wounds inside and I was in pain. I went to the doctor several times but the wounds didn’t heal.
“My relatives then advised me to use this grass … I felt that it was tighter and the pain gradually went away after using it for two days,” Mrs Putthaporn said.
She said her husband also told her that hee yum “can really confine the area”.
The ‘yu-fai’ (lie down by a fire) treatment is traditional post-partum healing. Performed in an open area, it involves using smokeless tamarind wood, local herbs and massage.
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/427772/vaginal-fix-herb-a-feature-of-thai-health-expo. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.
