Honey for Wound Healing

Sterile medical-grade honey dressings are used in some burn and wound clinics. The best summary of the clinical evidence is a 2015 Cochrane review (Jull et al.) of 26 trials with 3,011 people. Its clearest finding is that honey dressings healed partial-thickness burns about 4.7 days sooner than conventional dressings such as film or paraffin gauze (2 trials, 992 people). One trial of 50 people also found honey healed infected post-operative wounds faster than antiseptic washes and gauze. For most other wounds the evidence was low quality and did not show a clear difference.

Medical-grade honey is a different product from the honey in your kitchen. The best-known brand, Medihoney, is made from Leptospermum (Manuka) honey, sterilized by gamma irradiation (which kills bacterial spores, including Clostridium botulinum, without heating the honey) and sold as gels, alginate sheets and tulle dressings. It is cleared by the FDA as a medical device in the United States and CE marked in Europe. Jar honey, including raw honey and Manuka with a UMF or MGO grade, is food. It is not sterile, it can carry spores and environmental contaminants, and it is not what the wound trials tested. A UMF or MGO number on a jar is a grade for methylglyoxal content; it is not a wound-care grade. If you want to use honey on a wound, use a sterile honey dressing and ask a doctor, nurse or pharmacist whether it suits the wound. Deep wounds, surgical wounds, chronic ulcers, burns beyond a minor first-degree burn, and any wound in someone with a weakened immune system need medical care.

The 2015 Cochrane review graded the evidence wound type by wound type. Burns: high-quality evidence that partial-thickness burns dressed with honey healed faster than with conventional dressings. Against silver sulfadiazine, 4 small trials found faster healing with honey (very low quality evidence), while 6 trials found no difference in how many burns had healed by 6 weeks, with fewer adverse events on honey. In one trial, early excision and grafting healed burns faster than honey. See our honey for burns guide for first aid and burn severity. Infected post-operative wounds: one trial of 50 people found faster healing than antiseptic washes and gauze (moderate quality). Pressure ulcers: one trial of 40 people found faster healing than saline soaks (very low quality). Venous leg ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, minor cuts and mixed chronic wounds: the review could not tell whether honey made a difference (low or very low quality evidence). Deep puncture wounds, animal bites and wounds that need stitches need standard medical treatment.

Honey wound dressings come in several forms designed for different wound types and care settings. Pre-made honey dressings like Medihoney gel sheets, alginate dressings and tulle dressings are the products used in clinics. Alginate-honey dressings are sold for moderate to heavily draining wounds. Wound care technique — how much honey to use, how to apply it, and how often to change a dressing — is best directed by a healthcare provider rather than a generic online guide. Some people notice brief stinging when a honey dressing is first applied; tell your nurse or doctor if it does not settle.

Jar honey is not sterile: do not put it on deep wounds, surgical incisions or wounds in people with weakened immune systems. Use sterile medical-grade products, and get medical advice for anything beyond a minor cut, scrape or first-degree burn. Watch any wound for signs of infection: increasing redness, warmth, swelling, pain, pus, red streaks spreading from the wound, or fever. An infected wound needs prompt medical attention. Allergic reactions to honey on the skin are uncommon but documented — if redness, itching or a rash spreads beyond the wound, stop and wash the area. Third-degree burns, large second-degree burns, chemical burns and electrical burns need emergency treatment. Never give honey by mouth to infants under 12 months because of the risk of infant botulism, and ask a pediatrician before using any honey product on an infant. See a doctor if a wound is not improving after a week or gets worse at any point.