Quick & Handy Home Remedies: Find practical, affordable ways to deal with some of life's most common ailments, proving that getting back to the basics has its reward. Only $16.95 +s/h
Was this information helpful? Average rating: 4.9/5 (53 votes)
What do you think? Click the stars to vote!
If you have more to say, post a comment below!
Q. You recently wrote about sugar for wound healing. I have been in veterinary medicine for 15 years. Several years ago we had a case of a dog that had been attacked by another dog. After initial surgery to repair wounds, the tissue over the largest area died and sloughed off, leaving nothing to sew back together.
We used sugar for healing. It took daily bandage changes initially and nearly six months of wound care. However, our tough little patient healed beautifully. The sugar did not allow the wound to become infected and it also drew out extra moisture, which helped the wound to heal.
One thing we discovered was using a handheld showerhead to rinse off the sugar and gently remove the dead tissue, revealing healthy tissue underneath. After the rinse, pat dry with clean towels, pour sugar onto the wound and sprinkle to the edges of the margins. Apply non-stick pads and wrap appropriately.
A. Thank you for your story. It is always fascinating to hear from a health professional who has had success with an alternative healing approach.
Sugar has been used to heal wounds for many years. An orthopedic surgeon, encouraged by a nurse who knew of this old remedy, started experimenting with it in 1976 and reported his results almost 30 years ago (Southern Medical Journal, Nov. 1981).
A study that compared sugar to honey for wound healing found that honey was somewhat more effective (Journal of Wound Care, July 2007). A more recent study comparing honey to standard wound care suggested that medicinal honey might be better (Journal of Advanced Nursing, March 2009).
Was this information helpful? Average rating: 4.9/5 (53 votes)
What do you think? Click the stars to vote!
If you have more to say, post a comment below!
When I was in college I took a job as a nursing assistant at a local home for the aged. Some of our less ambulatory patients would get decibitus ulcers from lying on one spot for too long. The physician would give them all the usual medicines and treatments for this condition and usually they helped. As one would expect, there was a sizable number of patients with ulcers so wide or deep that the medicines did little good.
On those the Dr. would have us use brown sugar. Within 24 hours you could see the ulcer noticeably closing. Why brown sugar instead of white? I do not know but I have tried both white and brown on my spouse's neuropathic ulcers of the foot and the brown sugar worked much faster than the white. I suspect there is some vitamin or mineral in the brown sugar not present in the white that caused this. At any rate sugar is medicine. Now what exactly is medicinal honey?
Medicinal honey is a honey from New Zealand called MANUKA honey. I have used it as a dressing on a big sore I had on my arm and it healed very well with no scar.
Also, it is used for sore throats, just a spoonful and let it go down the throat without drinking anything, just let the honey work, works for coughing as well. There are wound dressing also available that has been impregnated with Manuka honey, though quite expensive. The honey is not cheap, but so useful. I buy it at Whole Foods Markets.
My dog has a huge wound on her tummy from sunbathing and excessive licking and now it's hard and open an it has a bad odor I've tried medicine from the vet it doesn't work and I can't afford to get it taken care of. If I use the sugar how would I apply it and is it ok to use gauze to cover it?