Traditionally used for
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Urinary & fluids
- Fertility & vitality
- Skin
☯ TCM Properties
Removes Wind and disperses Cold; Promotes the movement of Qi and controls pain; Fortifies Jing and controls urination; Removes Phlegm
Traditional Chinese Uses
Ci Wei Pi (Corium Erinacei) is the dried, prepared spiny skin of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus and related species such as the Chinese E. amurensis/Hemiechinus). Bitter and astringent and neutral, entering the Stomach, Large Intestine (and Kidney) channels, it directs Qi downward to relieve pain, cools the Blood and stops bleeding, and, after processing, secures Essence and restrains urination. Its most characteristic use is for bleeding hemorrhoids and anal fistula, where the powdered skin is combined with Dang Gui; it is also used for Stomach and epigastric pain and reflux from Blood stasis or Qi stagnation, and for seminal emission.
This is an animal-derived material. Hedgehogs are legally protected in many jurisdictions and populations are declining, so historical descriptions do not endorse present-day sourcing; plant-based astringent and Blood-cooling alternatives should be preferred where possible.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Ci Wei Pi is the dried prepared skin of the hedgehog, principally Erinaceus europaeus L. or Hemiechinus dauricus Sundevall (Erinaceidae). The drug consists of pieces of dorsal skin bearing the characteristic densely packed sharp banded spines, typically curled, gray-brown to yellowish, with the spines hard, smooth, and pointed. Animals are collected in autumn and winter, killed, the spiny dorsal skin removed, scraped free of fat, and sun-dried; processed forms include scorched or sand-roasted preparations. In traditional Chinese medicine the substance is bitter and neutral, entering the Stomach and Large Intestine channels; it descends qi, stops pain, harmonizes the stomach, and is the classical drug for hemorrhoidal bleeding, anal prolapse, hematochezia, gastric pain with vomiting, and seminal emission. Use is limited in modern practice given conservation concerns surrounding wild hedgehog populations.
Active Constituents
Keratin
Fibrous structural proteinThe spines and epidermis of the drug are keratinised, and keratin is the bulk of what is dispensed. No specific pharmacological activity has been attributed to it, and there is no published characterisation of any bioactive small molecule in Corium Erinacei. Practitioners should treat all pharmacological claims for this drug as traditional rather than evidence-based.
Collagen and dermal matrix protein
Structural proteinThe dermal component of the skin. The drug is conventionally used charred or blast-fried in sand rather than raw, which denatures this protein fraction and is the basis of the traditional claim that the processed drug astringes and stops bleeding more strongly than the raw. That difference has not been tested.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Prescriptions containing Ci Wei Pi (Corium Erinacei) dispensed in Europe, the United Kingdom or any Bern Convention state
Erinaceus europaeus is listed in Appendix III of the Bern Convention (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), which obliges contracting parties to regulate any exploitation so as to keep populations out of danger. It is separately protected in the United Kingdom under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is a UK priority species. In 2024 the IUCN moved it from Least Concern to Near Threatened on the basis of declines approaching or exceeding 30% in ten years across much of its range, including the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. The species is not CITES-listed, so an importer will not meet a CITES permit requirement, but the absence of a CITES listing is not permission: national protection law still applies.
Clinical note: Do not source or dispense this drug in Europe or the UK. Where the classical action is wanted, prescribe a plant substitute for the intended function rather than the animal drug, and record the substitution.
Erinaceus amurensis, Hemiechinus auritus or Mesechinus (Hemiechinus) dauuricus skin supplied as Erinaceus europaeus
Chinese materia medica entries for 刺猬皮 cite Erinaceus europaeus L. alongside Hemiechinus dauuricus Sundevall and Hemiechinus auritus Gmelin, but Erinaceus europaeus is a Western and Central European animal. The Erinaceus species actually occurring in and harvested across China is the Amur hedgehog, Erinaceus amurensis, now recognised as a distinct monotypic species distributed from the Amur basin through eastern China to Hunan and Guangdong and into Korea, together with the desert and Daurian hedgehogs of the northern grasslands. The binomial in the Chinese sources is an inherited eighteenth-century identification, not a statement about the animal in the drawer.
Clinical note: Read any Erinaceus europaeus label on this drug as historical nomenclature. Neither the traditional literature nor modern research distinguishes the species pharmacologically, so nothing is known about whether they differ; this is a sourcing and legality issue, not a substitution you can assess on the bench.
Immunosuppressants and corticosteroids (patients on transplant regimens, chemotherapy or high-dose steroids)
Hedgehogs are a recognised reservoir of Salmonella and of the dermatophyte Trichophyton erinacei, and they carry heavy ectoparasite burdens. Separately, stored Chinese animal medicinal materials have been surveyed and found to breed acaroid mites, which are themselves an allergen and asthma trigger. Dried skin is not a sterilised material and is normally handled and broken up in the dispensary before decoction.
Clinical note: Avoid this drug entirely in immunocompromised patients. Anyone handling the raw material should use gloves and avoid inhaling dust from the powdered or charred drug.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyReferences
- Gazzard A, Macdonald DW, Rasmussen SL. Conservation concern for Europe's hedgehog species (Erinaceidae): Current statuses, issues and needs . Biological Conservation (2025) [DOI]
- Kim NH, Lim SJ, Chae HM, Park YC. Complete mitochondrial genome of the Amur hedgehog Erinaceus amurensis (Erinaceidae) and higher phylogeny of the family Erinaceidae . Genetics and Molecular Research (2017) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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