This kind of thing has been done for centuries with sugar or honey. Something about osmotic fluid shift preventing infection.
I read about in in Hugh Coffee's Ditch Medicine book
It's also a common treatment for open decubitus ulcers.
You can mix up white sugar and iodine, Sugardyne.
According to a US SF medic pal, it works very well.
I have a friend who recently got a really bad cut and put just plain white sugar in the wound. The puncture remained fully open for about 12 hours and closed completely in about a day. Day two he wore only a bandaid, day three nothing. The wound filled with new pink flesh, and barely formed a scab.
His hypothesis is that:
- The sugar may act to suppress microbial growth in the wound (ever notice how sugar doesn't go bad).
- The sugar may work to directly provide energy for cellular repair within the wound.
For those that are interested, here are some articles you can look up.
(There are more than 400 journal articles in the National Library of Medicine.)
1: Topham J.
Why do some cavity wounds treated with honey or sugar paste heal without scarring?
J Wound Care. 2002 Feb;11(2):53-5.
2: Lusby PE, Coombes A, Wilkinson JM.
Honey: a potent agent for wound healing?
J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2002 Nov;29(6):295-300. Review.
3: Efem SE.
Clinical observations on the wound healing properties of honey.
Br J Surg. 1988 Jul;75(7):679-81.
4: Ndayisaba G, Bazira L, Habonimana E.
[Treatment of wounds with honey. 40 cases]
Presse Med. 1992 Oct 3;21(32):1516-8. French.
5: Pieper B.
Commentary--" Honey: a potent agent for wound healing? ".
J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2002 Nov;29(6):273-4.
6: Salcido R.
Complementary and alternative medicine in wound healing.
Adv Wound Care. 1999 Nov-Dec;12(9):438.
7: Oryan A, Zaker SR.
Effects of topical application of honey on cutaneous wound healing in rabbits.
Zentralbl Veterinarmed A. 1998 Apr;45(3):181-8.
8: Ndayisaba G, Bazira L, Habonimana E, Muteganya D.
[Clinical and bacteriological outcome of wounds treated with honey. An analysis of a series of 40 cases]
Rev Chir Orthop Reparatrice Appar Mot. 1993;79(2):111-3. French.
9: Bose B.
Honey or sugar in treatment of infected wounds?
Lancet. 1982 Apr 24;1(8278):963.
10: Fox C.
Honey as a dressing for chronic wounds in adults.
Br J Community Nurs. 2002 Oct;7(10):530-4. Review.
11: Gillitzer R.
[Modern wound management]
Hautarzt. 2002 Feb;53(2):130-45; quiz 146-7. German.
12: Bergman A, Yanai J, Weiss J, Bell D, David MP.
Acceleration of wound healing by topical application of honey. An animal model.
Am J Surg. 1983 Mar;145(3):374-6.
13: Tovey F.
Honey and sugar as a dressing for wounds and ulcers.
Trop Doct. 2000 Jan;30(1):1. Review.
14: Subrahmanyam M.
A prospective randomised clinical and histological study of superficial burn wound healing with honey and silver sulfadiazine.
Burns. 1998 Mar;24(2):157-61.
15: Kingsley A.
The use of honey in the treatment of infected wounds: case studies.
Br J Nurs. 2001 Dec;10(22 Suppl):S13-6, S18, S20.
16: Molan PC.
Potential of honey in the treatment of wounds and burns.
Am J Clin Dermatol. 2001;2(1):13-9. Review.