Honey wound treatment immensely helps the healing process

Honey wound treatment may seem pretty new, but it is not. The first source of a man taking this liquid gold from beehives dates back 20,000 to 30,000 years. Ancient Egyptians used it as medicine, for healing, and even embalming.

Modern science discovered its antibiotic and antiseptic properties in 1892, but they were not scientifically proven until the 20th century. Many studies have shown that natural honey improves energy levels, strengthens immunity, treats intestinal and respiratory diseases, heals lacerations and facilitates recovery from illnesses.

Amongst the best is sweet chestnut honey, or Castanea sativa, often used as medical grade honey for wounds. The tree blooms at the end of June and makes for a perfect bee pasture until mid-July.

Where does medical grade honey for wounds come from, and is it 100% natural?

Honey dressing for wound healing includes chestnut honey made from manna and nectar. When the tree blooms, bees first take pollen from male chestnut flowers. Then the nectar flow begins and lasts from three to four weeks. In that time, the bee colony can collect up to 28 kg of nectar from just one tree.

The chestnut trees are at higher altitudes, the result of which is high-quality pollen and the end product. Chestnut liquid gold contains more than 86% pollen of sweet chestnut and is considered one of the purest types.

A treasure trove of minerals, vitamins, sugars, acids, flavonoids, amino acids and enzymes has many proven medicinal properties. A plentifuller content of manna gives it the signature brownish red darker, amber colour. Approximately 10 grams usually contain more than 100,000 pollen grains, sometimes up to a million.

It has an intense smell and a very characteristic long-lasting aroma with a bitter aftertaste. And what is the most important - it is 100% natural. With its exceptional composition, it is subjected to biochemical and microbiological analyses under controlled conditions (HACCP).

That means honey wound treatment dressings are produced in a highly regulated environment. They go through sterilisation by e-beam and do not contain any genetically modified or synthetic components.

How does honey dressing for wound healing work?

Medical grade honey for wounds provides a complex mechanism of various effects and specific properties in the healing process. 100% natural and additive-free honey is a saturated solution of sugars. They cause osmotic pressure in the lesion, which enables autolytic debridement.

A saturated solution contains up to 80% of sugars divided into complex and simple ones. The osmotic principle triggers a local immune response in the wound and dehydrates the bacteria. This procedure activates autolytic debridement so that necrotic tissue softens.

Honey wound treatment includes a mixture of two monosaccharides: glucose (25%) and fructose (42%). Due to their optimal viscosity is easily pourable and comes into contact with the entire surface of the lesion. Because of that, it can remove foreign matter and impurities from the injury.

The acidic pH inhibits microbial growth and maintains an adequate number of MMPs. Honey dressing for wound healing encourages epithelialisation and granulation with high contents of calcium, manganese, potassium, amino acid proline and zinc. High ranges of flavonoids and phenolic acids have antioxidant capacities, while a remarkable amount of kynurenic acid prevents biofilm formation.

The process of honey wound treatment is highly intricate

Honey dressing for wound healing help with the recovery of damaged tissues. That is a highly intricate process influenced by various factors. A misbalance of these can cause impaired tissue repair, infections, and improper hypertrophic scarring. The wound healing is divided into 4 phases:

Hemostasis

Hemostasis is a phase in which the underlying connective tissue is exposed upon injury. In this phase, collagen attracts platelets to the injury site and activates platelet aggregation to deliver clotting factors.

Fibrinogen and prothrombin initiate coagulation, during which the platelets release chemicals from their granules into the plasma. These further assist in adhering to the laceration by maintaining vasoconstriction and activating clotting chemicals.

Inflammation

In this phase, medical grade honey for wounds activates the inflamed cells. To fight infection the aggregated platelets release pro-inflammatory chemokine and growth factors. After neutrophils clear out debris from the injury site, they return into circulation or undergo cell death.

Macrophages then remove the dead cells. During the process, they transform to complete their specific functions. These include reducing inflammation and promoting tissue regeneration.

Tissue proliferation

In this phase keratinocytes, endothelial cells and fibroblasts migrate and re-epithelialise to form new blood vessels. To restore platelet clots proteoglycans, hyaluronic acid aid and collagen are activated.

Tissue remodelling (maturation)

In this phase of honey wound treatment lesion typically reddens, swells and becomes itchy. The newly formed granulation tissue becomes more vascular and decreases the number of cells. At the same time, the epidermal layer is converged, and unaccustomed proteins degraded.

Myofibroblasts help produce the collagen fibres for wound contraction. While collagen fibres are regulated and rearranged, myofibroblasts are destroyed.

medical grade honey for wounds