All three existent classical systems of medicine, traditional Greek (tibb e al-yunnani), traditional Indian (ayurveda) and traditional Chinese, include Frankincense as an important remedy in their materia medicas (allowing for variations in the species used). However, it is very likely that its medicinal use goes back to the early mid-eastern cultures mentioned above. The Persian physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) documents using Frankincense for ulcers, tumors, fevers, dysentery and vomiting, for example, and in India and the West the remedy has been extensively used both in internal medicine and for trauma care and dermatology.

Oriental medicine employs Frankincense mainly for topical applications in conditions involving pain or tissue trauma. Here it is usually compounded with other remedies in an ointment, plaster or liniment to reduce pain, inflammation and bleeding from injury, as well as for ulcerative, arthritic, rheumatic or menstrual pain.