Honey

[pathfinder]

Can honey be used to dress wounds?

[incitatus]

um...yeeesss. It is quite a good antiseptic when neat, but the dressing must be changed several times a day if the wound is an open one. If the honey is diluted by body fluid it will ferment. Probably best to stick to elastoplast?

[dekhay]

Yes. Honey is a very dry product, mostly sugar. Any water that comes into contact with it will be drawn in by osmosis. As a result, most bacteria are dehydrated, killing them or rendering them weak and fragile. In ancient times, honey was sometimes used as a wound dressing, and some modern doctors still use sugar. Experts say the treatment probably works because sugar dries the bed of the wound to promote new tissue growth and dehydrates the bacteria that cause infection. There are commercial wound pastes made of synthetic microscopic water-absorbing beads that do the same thing.