FAK: Honey for wounds

[harryhaller]

I'm posting this because it seems to have scientific backing. Honey can be used in wounds to heal them. The honey doesn't have to be special or sterilised at all. It is being used to treat bad infected wounds where anti-biotics etc. aren't working. Anyway judge for yourselves.

At the very least a justification to carry honey with you

http://web.archive.org/web/20020615212906/http://www.slackinc.com/general/idn/199702/sugar.htm

http://osdir.com/ml/education.libraries.medlib/2005-10/msg00186.html

http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/evidence.shtml

http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2001/november/Molan/honey-as-topical-agent.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/u...d-is-revived.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

 

[EdS]

use it all the time once i've cleaned a wound and if it doesn't require supergluing

 

[locum76]

the NHS use manuka honey (tea tree) all the time. it works well in the treatment of wounds which are difficult to bandage such as ulcers, bed sores and the like.

all honey has antiseptic properties as does beeswax.

 

[tintock]

The latest episode of the BBC's Grow Your Own Drugs series had a recipe for lemon balm lip salve for cold sores which incorporated honey.

The recipe can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/growyourowndrugs/episode4.shtml

The presenter says that the honey is included not just to flavour the balm, but because it is anti-viral and helps speed up the healing of wounds.

It's a very interesting series and the episode in question can still be seen on the BBC iPlayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j4j41

 

[forestwalker]

Hmm, a guick google scholar search yielded http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/1/2
There are some other studies (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=honey+wound), but no time just now to read them right now.

http://ijl.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/1/40 looks like it could be worth reading too.

 

[the interceptor boy]

most vet surgury in the states use honey on a dialy period on wounded animals with massive cut marks, teeth marks and it heal very well. yes it works very well on human as well. as honey contain loads of antibacterial properties and its absolutely safe for eating and healing. i used it all the time on myself. try it sometimes, you would be amazed
by its healing capacity as a very cheap plentiful product, also you could use Liquid Balsam resin, works very well.

 

[sapper1]

honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.It doesn't matter how its stored it will not go off.

 

[xylaria]

Sugar cane and sugar cane juice is used for wound dressing in parts of Africa. Medisinces sans frountier use it when they run out of supplies in war zones. Strong concentrations or sugars cause bacteria to die through osmosis, both honey and sugar cane contain other anti bacterial substances as well.

 

[rik_uk3]

the NHS use manuka honey (tea tree) all the time. it works well in the treatment of wounds which are difficult to bandage such as ulcers, bed sores and the like.

all honey has antiseptic properties as does beeswax.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1542834/Using-tea-tree-oil-can-increase-MRSA-risk.html

Very popular with some Nurses though. Sugar paste was used in Nepolionic times for control of would infection.

 

[locum76]

hey rik.

perhaps the risk to MRSA is greater after using tea tree in the same way patients who have been over exposed to broad spectrum antibiotics are at a greater risk? :shrug:

rob

 

[DavidW]

The wife of a friend of mine has MS and has not been able to walk for years and suffers periodic pressure wounds. They live not far from Duke Medical Center where you would think you could get the best of care. However after a second event wherein her wound landed her in the hospital, and the medications used while in the hospital only made the wound worse. It became wider and deeper or more smelly and therefore more serious till finally surgery was required to get it under control. This of course was followed by a longer stay in the hospital ,a huge bill, the part not paid by insurance and just addition emotional and physical suffering. He decided that there must be a better way than completely trusting doctors for ones healthcare and believed that the doctors must be too blinded by their training to be able to see a better way and they embarked on search of their own to find a bettery way to deal with these sores.

One thing they found was treatment with honey or sugar goes back to ancient times, there are many references in eqyptian text about it, text from the Viking age and Mideval times and several references were found that in WW-I sugar was used as a treatment for trench foot. Its wide spread use seems to have dissapeared or declined after the discovery of antibiotics and other advances from around the time of WW-2.

Anyway the point is - sugar or honey both provide the same function in wound treatment - they found recipes for using a mixture of sugar and iodine and they began using it with great success. The wound healed faster , his wife suffered less and of course it cost less. He said you can make your own sugar/ iodine paste or you can get Dermawound.

http://www.progressivedoctors.com/wound-care.html

Here is how he described its use - "It works very well. ... As you use the sugar paste , you will begin to understand how it works. The weeping from the wound dissolves the sugar and keeps the liquid in the wound from supporting bacterial growth. The decay of tissue is stopped, and the wound will begin to fill in from the edges with healthy pink granular tissue. It is imperative to maintain the sugar over the wound 24/7. Otherwise anerobic decay will begin and reverse the healing, generating pus and stench. If you see pus or smell any stench, you need to apply the sugar paste or DermaWound more frequently."

He goes on to recommend the use of Musclesurf whey protein (used by bodybuilders) to help regenerate tissue.


You may find the following information useful or interesting:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/c47158353m07j733/

On-line book - Skin and Wound Infection
http://books.google.com/books?id=is...1&output=html&sig=WeR4BBdXgBlFcQmLqDL_LFNizqM
Read pages 117 to 128


http://www.wikipatents.com/ca/1332353.html

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001798002/en/

Pressure sores, papaya, honey and sugar ( bottom of page )
http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/global/david/dwe002/dwe00226.html#part1chap24

http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/contents.shtml