How to Cure Wounds With Honey

Honey has been used throughout history to treat wounds and burns, but only in recent years have scientists conducted studies on using honey for healing only. According to Peter Charles Molan, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and director of the Waikato Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato Department of Biological Sciences in New Zealand, "As a dressing on wounds, honey provides a moist healing environment, rapidly clears infection, deodorizes, and reduces inflammation, edema, and exudation [oozing of wounds]"

The Waikato Honey Research Unit researchers state that many medical professionals are using Manuka honey on infected wounds that haven't responded to antibiotics. Manuka honey is native to New Zealand, containing a high level of additional, non-peroxide, antibacterial components compared to regular honey, which has low levels of hydrogen peroxide.

The use of honey for healing wounds is still controversial and does not always work. For example, although honey helps heal a variety of wounds, honey was shown not to be useful as a compression dressing for venous leg ulcers, in a 2008 clinical trial by researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Things You'll Need

• Honey
• Waterproof, absorbent dressing pads
• Dressing pads containing honey (optional)

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Instructions

• 1

  Purchase the type of honey of your choice. All honey has antibacterial activity and each type of honey has different antimicrobial or disinfectant activities.

• 2

  Clean out your wound first with water or saline (salt water), or let the honey clean your wound. Honey quickly cleans, sterilizes and closes wounds, as revealed in a 1998 report at Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Israel, of nine premature infants with wound infections that would not heal with antibiotics.

• 3

  Apply two tablespoons of honey to your wound and the tissues surrounding it. Use a little more honey for deeper, cavity wounds for increased antibacterial activity.

• 4

  Cover the honey with a dressing pad, making sure the dressing extends beyond your wound edges. Use a waterproof, absorbent secondary dressing to soak up excess honey and to keep it from leaking out.

• 5

  Buy dressing pads already containing active Manuka honey. If you cannot find these dressing pads in stores, spread regular honey on a dressing pad, then apply it to your wound, according to researchers at the Waikato Honey Research Unit.

• 6

  Change your dressings each day, up to three times daily. The honey will not stick to your wound--honey is absorbed, resulting in no pain when changing dressings.

• 7

  Use honey as an effective, first aid treatment for your moderate burns. Andrew Jull, R.N., M.A., lead researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, discovered that honey helps to speed up healing of mild to moderate burn wounds.