What is Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras)?

Mai'a Sa'ila, also called Silaras, is a sticky grey-brown balsam. A balsam is a fragrant sap, much like resin. This one oozes from the cut bark of the Turkish sweetgum tree, Liquidambar orientalis.

In English it is called storax, or liquid styrax. Persian and Unani medicine uses it mostly on the skin. It is also added to steam and breathed in for coughs and a tight chest.

This is a single drug (Persian/Unani). That means one plant substance, not a mixed formula. Old healers called it warm and drying.

They used it for scabies, itchy rashes and sores that heal slowly. It was also used as a chest rub. Today the same balsam turns up in compound benzoin tincture (Friar's balsam), in perfume and in some soaps.

Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. Storax has a long, well-recorded record in several medical traditions. But there is almost no modern human trial evidence.

Old use tells you what people did for hundreds of years. It does not prove the substance works. Keep those two questions apart as you read this page.

How does Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras) work?

The balsam is thick, sticky and has a strong smell. Most of its old uses fit those plain qualities. They do not rest on any proven drug action.

On skin it forms a film. The film seals and guards a raw or cracked patch. That is why it was blended into dressings and into Friar's balsam.

In lab tests, some of its scented parts appear to slow the growth of certain bacteria and fungi in a dish. Whether that happens on skin is not known. Older practice also used it against the scabies mite.

Breathed in with steam, the parts that turn to vapour easily give a strong balsam smell. Many people find it makes breathing feel easier.

Feeling clearer is not the same as better lung function. That difference has not been properly tested in people.

What forms does Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras) come in?

You will most often meet it in these forms:

Raw balsam. A half-liquid, sticky mass. It is usually watered down before it touches skin.

Compound benzoin tincture (Friar's balsam). An alcohol mix of storax, benzoin and other resins. It is used as a skin dressing, or added to hot water for steam.

Ointments, plasters and medicated soaps. Here storax is one part among several.

Scent and flavour material. On labels it shows up as styrax or storax, at very low levels.

Where it comes from:

Storax has been traded and written about for well over two thousand years. Greek and Roman writers described it. It then passed into Arabic and Persian medicine.

There, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and later Unani writers listed it for skin disease and for coughs. They also burned it as incense.

The same balsam travelled east and became su he xiang in Chinese medicine. It went west into European drug lists too, where it stayed into the twentieth century.

That reach across Greek, Unani, Chinese and European practice is what gives it a strong standing in old medicine.

What does Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras) help with?

• Scabies and other itchy skin rashes caused by parasites: This is the best-known old use. It is written up in Unani, European and Chinese texts. The balsam was watered down into an ointment and put on for several nights. No controlled human trial has matched storax against permethrin or ivermectin. Those two are the standard modern treatments. Scabies needs proven treatment for the whole household. So this is history, not a recommendation.
• Cracked, chapped or slow-healing skin: Tradition used it as a sealing, soothing film over dry cracks and old sores. It is sticky and forms a film, so that use makes sense. Compound benzoin tincture is still used in modern wound care, to help dressings stick to skin. Storax on its own has not been tested for healing rates in people.
• Chesty cough and blocked nose: Added to hot water, the balsam vapour is used to make breathing feel easier. The comfort you get from steam itself is well known. No trial we could find has split out what storax adds on top of that. It does not treat the infection that causes the cough.
• Minor wounds and sores: Classical practice used it as a fragrant dressing that guards the skin. It was often mixed with wax or oil. Lab studies show it acts against some bacteria and fungi in a dish. That does not reliably predict what happens on human skin. Deep, dirty or spreading wounds need medical care, not a balsam.
• Incense and scent: This is a real, undisputed use, with no health claim attached to it. Storax is burned as incense. Its warm balsam scent is also used in perfume. Heavy smoke of any kind irritates the airways. That matters most if you have asthma.

Which foods are rich in Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras)?

You may see styrax or storax listed as a flavouring or fragrance in chewing gum, sweets or cosmetics, always at trace levels that carry no medicinal effect.

What are the side effects of Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras)?

• Allergic skin reaction: redness, itching, small blisters, sometimes days after use
• Contact dermatitis (an itchy inflamed rash) that can spread beyond the treated patch
• Stinging or burning on broken or raw skin
• Airway irritation, coughing or wheezing from strong vapour or incense smoke
• Nausea or stomach upset if swallowed
• Staining of clothing and bedding from the sticky balsam

Good to know:

The common problem with storax is allergy, not poisoning.

Storax is a recognised skin sensitiser and a frequent cause of positive patch tests in people who react to balsam of Peru and benzoin. Once you are sensitised, later contact with related fragrances can set off a rash. This is why short, small-area use matters.

Serious harm from ordinary skin use is uncommon, but the styrene content is a real reason not to use it heavily, over large areas, on broken skin, or long term.

How much Mai'a Sa'ila (Silaras) should you take?

• Recommended daily: There is no set modern dose for storax. We do not advise taking it by mouth at home. Old drug lists gave inside doses of about 0.3 to 1 gram a day. Those books came before modern safety testing. They also came before what is now known about styrene, so treat those numbers as history. For skin use, old practice waters the balsam down a lot. A few percent in an ointment base is normal. Put a thin layer on a small patch. For steam, a small amount of compound benzoin tincture goes into a bowl of hot (not boiling) water.
• Best time of day: Skin use is usually at night. The ointment can then stay in place under clothes. Steam is normally done in the evening, before bed.
• With or without food: Not relevant for skin use or for steam. Use by mouth is not advised here, so no food guidance is given.
• Time to effect: A skin film feels soothing almost at once, within minutes. Steam eases the blocked feeling during the session, and for a short while after. There is no reliable timeline for any deeper effect. That has not been measured in people.
• How long to take it: Keep any skin use short: a few days, and about two weeks at most. Stop at the first sign of redness, itching or a spreading rash. If the problem has not clearly improved in two weeks, stop. Get it looked at properly. Long, repeated contact with the skin is what drives allergy to this balsam. So do not use it as a daily routine product.