Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the products mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.

Additionally, some people are allergic to honey. You must never use honey if you are allergic to it, or put it on anyone who is allergic to it. You could initiate an anaphylactic reaction that could be life threatening.

(Read Part One)
(Read Part Two)
(Read Addendum)

I’d like to share some of my experiences with using honey for wound care on myself. They are personal, and may not be applicable in any given situation to any other person. But perhaps they will be interesting to read as entertainment. This post is long, but it’s something I cannot break into parts. Please bear with me and read it all the way through, or please do not even start reading it.

First, how effective is honey? A study reported in the Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters
“shows that in burn wounds infected by multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, honey may be useful for controlling infection.” That is a double-tough situation, and to me it is indicative of what honey can do for a wound.

There seems to be two basic ways of applying honey to a wound. The first way is by putting it directly on the wound. I use a generous amount of honey, enough to completely cover the wound. Apparently there has to be ‘enough’ honey to make it work effectively. If there is any question about what ‘enough’ is, I use more rather than less. But no need to put it around the wound area. It will just run off. In fact, there is usually some runoff from the wound area. I just wipe it away with a sterile gauze pad.

The applied honey seems to create it’s own ‘bandage’ of some type, and as long as it is kept clean and dry, that is all it needs in most cases. I do not cover it with a bandage. But it is absolutely essential that it is kept dry. If I can’t for some reason, I cover it with a bandage (see below).

Honey is hydrophilic, which means it tends to absorb water. One way honey helps protect a wound against infection is that it turns to hydrogen peroxide when it meets invasive bacterium and even perhaps viruses and other pathogens (but it does not do so when it meets human flesh. That is so amazing, but apparently that’s how it works.) However, if honey comes into contact with too much moisture, including the moisture in blood, it gets overwhelmed and cannot turn to hydrogen peroxide, and becomes useless. So the dryer the wound, the better. And this is why I use 100% honey with no added water or corn syrup or anything else.

Honey also apparently has other antibacterial qualities, and I don’t think we understand how all of them work yet. But we did not understand how aspirin worked for the first few decades that we used it. We just knew how to use it, which was sufficient.

The second way of applying honey is with a bandage. I open the bandage, and put the honey on the sterile pad. I let it soak in for a little while, and then put more on the pad so that there is plenty to cover the wound amply when I apply it. My favorite is an ‘island’ bandage, with adhesive on all four sides, which contains the honey on the wound much better. I have also used a regular two-end adhesive bandage, but the honey seems to lose its effectiveness earlier, and has to be reapplied more often. It ends up being more like when I do not apply a bandage at all.

I always check any wound for signs of infection regularly. I never leave a bandage on a wound for an extended period of time. For information on what all that means, a person should buy and read A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine, by Eric A. Weiss, M.D. Seriously, anyone who has not bought and studied this book, and/or taken Red Cross or other certifying first aid courses, has no business doing any first aid whatsoever. Remember that the first doctrine of first aid and every other phase of helping people is Do No Harm. If a person does not know how to do something, the chances of doing harm is very great.

The two different ways of applying honey have different effects. They are a little hard to quantify, because wounds can be so different, and act differently as they heal, and each person is different. The operative word in this and all other first aid is… it depends. The way I treat one of my wounds, and how healing progresses, depends on so many factors. Each event is different. That is why training is so important. It gives you a wider scope of knowledge so you can make a better decision as to what to do.

That said, it seems that when I put a bandage with honey on a wound, it keeps the wound open, and does not allow it to scab. Some schools of thought say that is good to not develop a scab. And I personally think that can be good during the first part of healing, especially if there is any necrotic tissue, and once again, anyone who doesn’t know what that means shouldn’t mess around with it.

I think that keeping a wound from scabbing can be beneficial when I have an ulcerated wound. Apparently honey possibly can help restore proper blood supply to a damaged area, but it takes a while. That is just my personal opinion. I know of no research to back that up.

Bottom line is, if I want to keep the healing process going, bandaging with honey apparently helps that. But in my experience, my wound will not completely heal if a bandage with honey is kept on it. At some point it must be exposed to air, with or without honey. If it is healing nicely, I stop putting honey on it and let my body take it the rest of the way via it’s own natural means. I think that scabbing is a natural way the body heals. Who am I to prevent it?

If I apply honey without a bandage, the wound seems to heal more quickly. If not severe, one application of honey may be sufficient. Or maybe it will take two or three or more applications. It depends. Of course I try my best to clean a wound first as per the methods Dr. Weiss suggests before applying honey. But in a worst case scenario where I had no way of cleaning a wound, I’m guessing that the honey might be sufficient to overcome much contamination. How much I could not say, because… you can hear it coming… it depends.

I also use honey if my throat gets irritated by contaminates in the air, such as smoke from a fire. I slowly swallow about a tablespoon, full strength. I try not to have too much saliva to thin it out. I cannot say if it is just the feeling of the honey coating the irritated tissue, or if there is come healing property at work, or both.

I have found many uses for honey. These are just a few of them. If you have time, you may want to research the subject in more depth. It’s fascinating.

Tags: antibacterial, First Aid, honey, medic, wound care
This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 5:24 pm and is filed under First Aid.
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