WOUND CARE RESEARCH - PART 2

05/11/2012     

Medicinal Honey Improves Wound Healing, Decreases Pain

Floral honey as a secondary dressing can promote healing, minimize slough and necrosis, and reduce the affected area of many types of wounds, according to a prospective observational study published online April 12 in International Wound Journal. Of all the wounds in a study population of European patients who received topical honey as an adjunct to other dressings, 31.4% completely healed and 53.3% improved during an observational period of several weeks, reported Bahram Biglari, MD, from the Department of Paraplegia and Technical Orthopedics, Insurance Association Trauma Centre, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and colleagues. Stagnation occurred in 9.2% of the group's wounds, and 6.1% of the wounds worsened.

To assess pain, investigators asked patients to grade the discomfort they felt on a scale of 0 to 10. The total average pain scores reported between recruitment and the end of the observation period decreased significantly, from 1.71 ± 1.89 to 0.55 ± 1.22 (P < .05; paired Student's t-test). Yet the authors cautioned that "the extent of pain reduction that can be attributed to honey is difficult to evaluate from a non-controlled observational study. A comparative trial with other dressings or remedies would be more conclusive in this regard."

Source: Rod Franklin and Robert Finn, Medscape News [4/30/12]