Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Haema is a dried seahorse. Its Latin name is Hippocampus japonicus. In Korean medicine it is used as a warming tonic, mostly for low sex drive, weak knees and long-term wheezing.
It is sold whole, in slices, or ground to powder. It is also soaked in wine or added to soups. It is one single drug, not a herb blend.
Old use is not proof that a remedy works. No human trials of Haema have been found. Read the uses below as tradition, not as fact.
No one has shown how Haema works in the body. That is the honest answer.
Korean texts say it warms the kidney and lifts yang, the body's inner fire. In plain words, it was thought to add warmth, drive and strength.
A few lab and animal studies look at seahorse extract. They hint at effects on swelling and on hormones, the body's chemical messengers. None of that shows a result in people.
Haema comes as a whole dried seahorse or as thin slices. It is also ground into a fine powder.
Cooks and healers simmer it in soup or soak it in rice wine. Some mixed pills and capsules list it with other herbs.
Quality and purity vary widely. Seahorses are protected in many countries, so trade is limited by law. Buy only stock that is legal and lab tested.
Seahorse has been used in East Asia for hundreds of years. It shows up in Chinese drug books from the Ming era, then in Korean practice.
Korean doctors gave it as a warming tonic to men, and to speed up slow births. They also used it on lumps and slow-healing sores.
It is a named single drug in Korean medicine, but a small one. It was never an everyday staple like ginseng.
Some reactions to Haema need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Get emergency help at once if your lips, face or throat swell, if you come out in hives, or if you find it hard to breathe. That can be a severe allergic reaction.
See a doctor soon if you notice easy bruising, bleeding gums, or blood in your stool or urine. Also see a doctor if wheezing gets worse, if a lump grows or does not heal, or if erections change suddenly. Stop the remedy and speak to a doctor if a rash, stomach pain or bad sleep starts after you begin it.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Haema is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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