This disease belongs to the categories of "Damp Boil" and "Damp Toxic Boil". Which occurs in the whole body is termed "Infiltrating Boil". Which occurs in the ear is termed "Ear Boil". Which occurs in the dorsum of the hand is termed "Hand Boil". Which occurs in the nipple is termed "Nipple Boil". Which occurs around the umbilicus is termed "Navel Boil". Which occurs in the elbow and popliteal fossa is termed "Four Curve Boil". Which occurs in the scrotom is termed "Embroidered Ball Boil" or "Kidney Sack Boil" in Chinese medicine. In addition, there are also other terms of "Wind-Damp Ulcer" (acute eczema) and "Intractable Eczema" (chronic eczema).This disease is mostly caused by pathogenic wind, dampness and heat and chronic condition is often related to wind and dryness due to blood deficiency.

The pathogenesis of this disease is mostly related to constitutional intolerance, leading to accumulation of pathogenic wind, dampness and heat in the muscle and skin. If the spleen and stomach are damaged by improper food intake to lead to failure of the spleen in transportation, mixture of the internal dampness and external pathogenic factors, or blood heat in the body, and severe dampness and heat can all result in acute attack of the skin rashes in the whole body due to infiltration of dampness and heat in the muscle and skin. If the internal dampness is not dissolved due to failed transportation by spleen deficiency, the onset is comparatively slow. When pathogenic dampness subsides gradually after a long duration and pathogenic heat consumes and damages yin and blood, wind and dryness can be caused by blood deficiency.