Can Honey Treat Venous Leg Ulcer?

When skin tissues below the knee start breaking down, a painful condition called Venous Leg Ulcer develops. 70-90 percent of chronic wounds are caused by this condition which has no known cause. The treatment is expensive and in 48 percent cases ulcer returns after healing once.

The researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand wanted to know the efficacy of honey in treating this condition. The natural sweetener is well known as a healing agent in alternative medicines. The study found that there were no significant improvement in the healing process on applying honey. Instead, there were certain adverse effects reported as the results of the study. These conclusions were published in the Jan 2008 issue of the British Journal of Surgery.

Can Honey Compression Dressing Treat Venous Leg Ulcer?

• Generally compression therapy reduces the diameter of the blood vessels below the knee. In this way, the constant pressure of fluids in the lower parts of the body are addressed.
• In order to learn about the healing potential of honey dressings over compression bandage, a trial run was organised in four cities of New Zealand with 368 participants.
• They were divided into two groups, one with conventional dressings of compression and the other given honey compression bandage.
• At the end of 12 weeks study, there were not much difference in the healing rates of the two groups.
• The honey treatment proved to be expensive of the two and people who had honey bandage reported of more adverse effects than the conventional group.
• No change was noticed in the quality of life, rate of infection and change in ulcer area according to the lead author of the Clinical Trials Research Unit .
• The researchers believe that as of now, the conventional compression treatment options should only be used to manage venous leg ulcer.