Honey as a Dressing for Wounds, Burns, and Ulcers (Part 3).

The use of honey as a wound dressing goes back to ancient times and has continued into present-day folk medicine. It is used as a traditional therapy for infected leg ulcers in Ghana, and as a traditional therapy in Mali for the topical treatment of measles, and in the eyes of patients to prevent corneal scarring. It is a common observation in medical journal reports that numerous benefits result from using honey to dress wounds.

Honey as a Dressing for Wounds, Burns, and Ulcers: A Brief Review of Clinical Reports and Experimental Studies.

Evidence of Effectiveness: Animal Studies.

In one experimental study , comparisons were made between honey and silver sulfadiazine, and between honey and sugar, on standard deep dermal burns, 7x7 cm, made on Yorkshire pigs.

The viscosity of honey provides a protective barrier to prevent wounds becoming infected.

Honey creates a moist healing environment that allows skin cells to regrow across a healing wound flush with the surface of the wound, preventing deformity of the skin. (If a dry scab forms on a wound, the skin cells can only grow across the wound deeper down where it is moist.)

Epithelialisation was achieved within 21 days with honey and sugar whereas it took 28 - 35 days with silver sulfadiazine. Granulation was clearly seen to be suppressed initially by treatment with silver sulfadiazine. In all honey-treated wounds the histological appearance of biopsy samples showed less inflammation than in those treated with sugar and silver sulfadiazine, and a weak or diminished actin staining in myofibroblasts suggesting a more advanced stage of healing.

Honey causes scabs and dead cells to lift off the surface of the wound, leaving a clean healthy wound bed in which regrowth of tissue can occur.

Honey stimulates the regrowth of tissue involved in the healing process. It stimulates the formation of new blood capillaries and the growth of fibroblasts that replace the connective tissue of the deeper layer of the skin and produce the collagen fibers that give strength to the repair. In addition, honey stimulates the growth of epithelial cells that form the new skin cover over a healed wound. Honey thus prevents scarring and keloid formation, and removes the need for skin grafting even with quite large wounds.

In another study on experimental burns , superficial burns created with a red-hot pin (15 mm2) on the skin of rats were treated with honey or with a sugar solution with a composition similar to honey. Healing was seen histologically to be more active and advanced with honey than with no treatment or the sugar solution. The time taken for complete repair of the wound was significantly less (p<0.01) with honey than with no treatment or with the sugar solution, and necrosis was never so serious. Treatment with honey gave a clearly seen attenuation of inflammation and exudation and a rapid regeneration of outer epithelial tissue and rapid cicatrisation.

In another experimental study on animals, full-thickness wounds were created by cutting away 2x4 cm pieces of skin on the backs of buffalo calves.

Honey does not stick to the underlying wound tissues, so there is no tearing away of newly formed tissue, and no pain, when dressings are changed.

Honey has an antiinflammatory action, which reduces the swelling around a wound. This improves circulation and thus hastens the healing process. It also reduces pain. The amount of fluid exuding from wounds is also decreased by the antiinflammatory action.

The wounds were dressed with honey or nitrofurazone, or with sterilised petrolatum as a control. Granulation, scar formation, and complete healing occurred faster with honey than with nitrofurazone and in the control. Histomorphological examination of biopsy samples revealed more marked acute inflammatory changes in the wounds in the control and with nitrofurazone than with honey, and less proliferation of fibroblasts and angioblasts.

In another experimental study on buffalo calves full-thickness skin wounds, 2x4 cm, were made after infecting the area of each wound by subcutaneous injection of Staphylococcus aureus two days prior to wounding.

The high sugar content of honey draws lymph out of a wound, which lifts dirt out of the wound bed.

Honey prevents the odor that is commonly associated with serious wounds and skin ulcers, by clearing bacterial infection, and more immediately, by providing sugar to any bacteria present. In this environment, lactic acid is produced instead of the smelly byproducts of the degradation of protein.

Topical application of honey, ampicillin ointment, and saline as a control were compared as treatment for the wounds. Clinical examination of the wounds and histomorphological examination of biopsy samples showed that honey gave the fastest rate of healing compared with the other treatments, the least inflammatory reaction, the most rapid fibroblastic and angioblastic activity in the wounds, the fastest laying down of fibrous connective tissue, and the fastest epithelialisation.

Honey rapidly clears infection from wounds. It is fully effective even with antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Unlike antiseptics and antibiotics, there is no impairment of the healing process through adverse effects on wound tissues.

An experimental study carried out using mice also compared honey with saline dressings, on wounds made by excising skin (10x10 mm) down to muscle. Histological examination showed that the thickness of granulation tissue and the distance of epithelialisation from the edge of the wound were significantly greater, and the area of the wound significantly smaller, in those treated with honey (p<0.001). None showed gross clinical infection (honey or control).

Honey researchers feel that the therapeutic potential of honey is grossly under-utilized. It is widely available in most communities and although the mechanism of action of several of its properties remains obscure and needs further investigation, the time has now come for conventional medicine to look at this traditional remedy. With increasing interest in the use of alternative therapies and as the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, honey may finally receive its due recognition... [read more]

In another study, on rats, a 10 mm long incision was made in the skin of each rat and the wounds were treated topically or orally with floral honey, honey from bees fed on sugar, or saline. A statistically significant increase in the rate of healing was seen with the treatment with floral honey compared with the saline control, this being greater with oral than with topical administration. The treatment with honey from bees fed on sugar, whilst initially giving a greater rate of healing, after 9 days gave results no better than those obtained with the saline control.

The Heart.
British researchers have discovered that honey slows the oxidation of 'bad' IDL cholesterol, which is responsible for causing arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. So Honey can fight against Colesterol. And the darker the honey, the better.Pure honey taken with food daily (instead of white sugar) relieves complains of cholesterol.This is beneficial for those of Old age, sufferers of Heart-disease, Diabetes, High-blood Pressure, Stroke, and others.

The granulation, epithelialisation and fibrous tissue seen histologically reflected the rate of healing measured as decrease in wound length. The infiltration of granulation tissue with chronic inflammatory cells was greatest in the wounds treated with honey from bees fed on sugar, less in those treated topically with floral honey, and least in those treated orally with floral honey.

Oral and topical application of honey were compared in another study on rats, in which full-thickness 2x2 cm skin wounds were made on the backs of the rats by cutting away the skin.

Appetite.
Honey improves appetite in children suffering from conditions of Appetite loss.

The rats were treated with topical application of honey to the wound, oral administration of honey, or intraperitoneal administration of honey, or untreated as a control. After seven days of treatment, tritiated proline was injected subcutaneously to serve as an indicator of collagen synthesis in the subsequent 24 hour period.

Insomnia.
Honey helps in nervous disorders including Insomnia and acts as a tonic in recovery of any damage to the human nervous system. In cases of Insomnia (Sleeplessness) one teaspoon full of honey mixed in luke-warm water (or milk) & drunk before going to bed helps in getting sound sleep.

Both the quantity of collagen synthesised and the degree of cross-linking of the collagen in the granulation tissue were found to have increased significantly compared with the untreated control as a result of treatment with honey (p<0.001). Systemic treatment gave greater increases than topical treatment, the intraperitoneal route giving a better result than the oral route.

Stress. Honey in water is a stabilizer - calms highs and raises lows. Use approx. 1:4 honey to water.

In a similarly conducted study following this, the rats were treated in the same way, but different parameters were studied to assess healing. The granulation tissue that had formed was excised from the wounds for biochemical and biophysical measurement of wound healing.

Healing.
Honey also greatly helps in convalecense as it has properties to make the body heal faster.

The content of DNA, protein, collagen, hexosamine and uronic acid, and the tensile strength, stress-strain behaviour, rate of contraction, and the rate of epithelialisation were found to have increased significantly as a result of treatment with honey (p<0.05 - <0.001). Systemic treatment gave greater increases than topical treatment, the intraperitoneal route giving the best results.