Honey clinically stimulates granulation and epithelialization in chronic wounds: a report of two cases (original) (raw)
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Acceleration of wound healing by topical application of honey
The American Journal of Surgery, 1983
Honey as an excellent adjuvant for acceleration of wound healing is widely accepted in folk medicine. Russian soldiers used honey for this purpose in World War I, and scientific support for these beliefs is beginning to appear. Cavanagh et al [I] used honey in open wounds from radical vulvectomy and noted less bacterial colonization and faster wound healing. Similar observations were made in our department (Bergman A, personal communication). Topical application of honey was observed in isolated instances to be effective in decubitus ulcers, infected wounds, and burns [2-g]. Honey, for the most part, is made up of simple sugars and is an excellent source of energy. It is hypertonic and has been shown to be sterile and highly bacteriocidal [I&-21].
Honey and contemporary wound care: An overview
Ostomy/wound management
A growing body of research and empirical evidence have supported the re-discovery of medicinal-grade honey as a wound management agent. Pre-clinical study results suggest that honey has therapeutic benefit; clinical study results have shown that honey effectively addresses exudate, inflammation, devitalized tissue, and infection. Honey-containing dressings and gels have been developed to facilitate the application of medicinal-grade honey to the wound. Clinical studies to compare the safety and effectiveness of these products to other moisture-retentive dressings and treatment modalities are warranted.
Journal of ApiProduct and ApiMedical Science, 2011
The concern of a surgeon dealing with the management of diabetic ulcers is to get the wound debrided and dressed until it granulates. After this stage a proper tissue cover with skin graft is among the options available to encourage the wounds to heal. A resurgence of interest and an increasing number of case reports on the use of honey on diabetic foot ulcers, reflect a growing awareness and a need for cost-effective therapies. Given honey's great potential as an alternative in wound dressing, this double-blinded randomized controlled study was designed to investigate the wound healing property and the granulation tissue promoting effect of honey, comparing the local Malaysian tualang honey with the well-established manuka honey in the management of patients with diabetic foot wounds. Thirty-four patients with Wagner stage II or III diabetic foot ulcers were enrolled in the study, randomized into 2 groups of seventeen patients, treated with either manuka honey or tualang honey dressing on a daily basis post surgical debridement. Wound healing was assessed by measuring the granulation surface area utilizing a tracing technique. The primary outcome measure which was area of coverage with new granulation tissue was checked in each group after seven days. Other variables which might affect wound healing that were considered as confounders were recorded and analysed as well as the primary outcome. There was no significant difference (p=0.687) between manuka honey and tualang honey group in terms of mean percentage of granulation tissue surface area after one week of dressing in diabetic foot ulcers (manuka group 60.7%, tualang group 57.0%). All variables in both groups which were age, wound size, HbA1c, haemoglobin level, serum albumin level, absolute lymphocyte count and ankle-brachial systolic pressure index (ABSI), were comparable and were found not to be statistically significant to influence the primary outcome. Tualang honey induced granulation and exhibited beneficial action in promoting wound healing which was comparable to the more established manuka honey. The result suggests that tualang honey could be used as an alternative therapeutic agent for diabetic foot wounds with similar beneficial effects as those expected for manuka honey.
2010
Background: Honey is the oldest known wound dressing. Its uses date back to ancient Greece, Egypt, and parts of India. Composed of 80% sugar and 17% water, this supersaturated natural substance makes a splendid wound dressing. Its high osmolarity, phytochemicals, and enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide inhibit bacterial growth, while its acidic pH and autolytic debridement, decrease inflammation and improve blood circulation to enhancing epithelialization and healing with minimal scar tissue. The subject of this review is whether studies show that honey's wound healing properties make it a better wound dressing by decreasing the healing time of chronic wounds, compared to standard therapy. Methods: An exhaustive search of available medical literature using search engines MEDLINE, CHINAHL, and Web of Science was conducted with honey, treatment, therapy, and wounds as key words. JADAD score was used to determine the validity of each study. Results: Three studies were identified meeting the exclusion and inclusion criteria established. All studies were consistent in that honey reduces the healing rate of chronic ulcers but only one study reached statistical significance. All studies had weak JADAD scores of three due to their lack of blinding the participants. The studies were also of poor quality design in that much of the treatment was determined by the clinician and no standard protocol was used across the groups tested. Conclusion: Honey is an effective wound treatment agent but no additional benefit is gained over standard therapy.
A Review on the Use of Honey in the Treatment of Wound Infection
Asian Food Science Journal
Honey is a sweet substance made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey is of different types, but the Apis mellifera is the one most commonly used, consumed by people and collected by bee keepers. The flower from which bees gather nectar, determines the colour, chemical composition, flavour and aroma of the honey. The use of honey in folk medicine has been practiced since ancient times and has more recently been rediscovered by medical researchers for its use in dressing acute and chronic wounds, particularly where conventional modern therapeutic agents have failed. The wound healing property of honey is due to its antibacterial activity; the ability to maintain a moist wound condition, the high sugar content which hinders microbial growth, the high viscosity which help in providing a protective barrier to prevent infection, the immunomodulatory property which helps in wound repair, the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide and the high osmolarity which draws fluid out of the ...
Role of Honey in Advanced Wound Care
Molecules
Honey is a natural product rich in several phenolic compounds, enzymes, and sugars with antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial potential. Indeed, the development of honey-based adhesives for wound care and other biomedical applications are topics being widely investigated over the years. Some of the advantages of the use of honey for wound-healing solutions are the acceleration of dermal repair and epithelialization, angiogenesis promotion, immune response promotion and the reduction in healing-related infections with pathogenic microorganisms. This paper reviews the main role of honey on the development of wound-healing-based applications, the main compounds responsible for the healing capacity, how the honey origin can influence the healing properties, also highlighting promising results in in vitro and in vivo trials. The challenges in the use of honey for wound healing are also covered and discussed. The delivery methodology (direct application, inco...
Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology B
Except for its benefits as food and medicine, honey has been used since ancient times as an external remedy in wound care, and has been the subject of numerous studies and research, that reveal its complex favorable action for wound healing. Based on scientific research and clinical studies published in literature, this work presents these various properties and therapeutic activities of honey dressings. Next, actions and clinical effects of L-Mesitran range of dressings, based on medicinal honey and authorized European Union (EU) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have been highlighted in a case series of patients in the Department of Plastic Surgery, Emergency District Hospital of Ploiesti, Romania, by monitoring the clinical local evolution of burns and other wounds. L-Mesitran range of products is based on the combination of medicinal honey and other ingredients, such as hypoallergenic medicinal lanolin, vitamins C and E. These sterilized preparations were applied for various skin lesions after wound cleansing, and exerted a favorable action on healing of burns and other wounds, sometimes in combination with surgical treatment, being applied in these cases before or after surgery. Further clinical studies are needed to establish the best indications, methods and forms of administration for each type of wounds, as well as the selection over other types of dressings.
Honey: A Biologic Wound Dressing
Wounds : a compendium of clinical research and practice, 2015
Honey has been used as a wound dressing for thousands of years, but only in more recent times has a scientific explanation become available for its effectiveness. It is now realized that honey is a biologic wound dressing with multiple bioactivities that work in concert to expedite the healing process. The physical properties of honey also expedite the healing process: its acidity increases the release of oxygen from hemoglobin thereby making the wound environment less favorable for the activity of destructive proteases, and the high osmolarity of honey draws fluid out of the wound bed to create an outflow of lymph as occurs with negative pressure wound therapy. Honey has a broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, but there is much variation in potency between different honeys. There are 2 types of antibacterial activity. In most honeys the activity is due to hydrogen peroxide, but much of this is inactivated by the enzyme catalase that is present in blood, serum, and wound tissues. I...