Honey For Wound Care - Addendum
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.
And truly, a person must also learn the proper technique before using any of the products mentioned, or they may do more harm than good.
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 Part Three)
I came across a source that talks about using honey for wound care that I think is important to read.
The page is at WorldWideWounds.com and goes deeply into the subject. There is some very good information, presented lucidly and interestingly.
It brings up points I had not thought to mention, including the need to use a ‘low-adherent dressing’, such as Telfa or equivalent non-stick bandage, when using honey with a dressing. I forgot to mention this because I almost never use any kind of dressing that will cause the healing wound to stick to the pad. Kind of defeats the purpose. The exception is in a first aid situation where there’s nothing but cloth from someone’s clothing to make a bandage with. Actually, using honey in this situation is helpful, because it provides some degree of lubrication to the wound, and actually lessens the sticking. But when I change the dressing, I would hope to have a non-stick type available. It’s better.
I love the parts that detail the ways they believe honey actually works. They mention the same basics that I did in previous posts, but go far more technical, talking about increased lymphocyte and phagocytic activity. That stuff is very exciting to me, and as a bonus, it includes language about ‘tumor necrosis factor’. They’re actually saying honey can have an effect on tumors. That’s something I wondered about, and here they actually site studies such as Stimulation of TNF-alpha Release in Monocytes by Honey. Heavy, and not absolutely conclusive without further confirmation, but really neat.
One part of this article I probably take some issue with concerns the kind of honey used. This site directs people toward officially medically approved honey. I suppose that makes sense. If something is ‘officially approved’, then a person’s doubts are lessened… although frankly, I think that all the official academic studies they site is enough to erase a person’s doubts about using honey.
I guess the super-clean kind of filtered honey has some advantages, such as screening for potentially allergenic pollens. That would be essential for anyone with any sort of pollen allergy Me, I like things as natural as I can get them. If organic local honey worked for several thousand years as a successful wound treatment, my thinking is that it works pretty good. Certainly good enough for me. Besides, local organic honey is expensive enough. But if a person prefers the official kind of medical honey, especially if that gets them to try it, I have absolutely no problem with that. As I mentioned in a previous Part,there is even a FDA approved honey-impregnated bandage now on the market. If that turns you on, go for it!
Whatever you choose, I think one of these forms of honey belongs in everyones emergency supplies. We have several pounds of it in ours.
