Role of Honey in Advanced Wound Care

Abstract

Honey is a natural product rich in several phenolic compounds, enzymes, and sugars with antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial potential. Indeed, the development of honey-based adhesives for wound care and other biomedical applications are topics being widely investigated over the years. Some of the advantages of the use of honey for wound-healing solutions are the acceleration of dermal repair and epithelialization, angiogenesis promotion, immune response promotion and the reduction in healing-related infections with pathogenic microorganisms. This paper reviews the main role of honey on the development of wound-healing-based applications, the main compounds responsible for the healing capacity, how the honey origin can influence the healing properties, also highlighting promising results in in vitro and in vivo trials. The challenges in the use of honey for wound healing are also covered and discussed. The delivery methodology (direct application, incorporated in fibrous membranes and hydrogels) is also presented and discussed.

The potential application of natural products in cutaneous wound healing: A review of preclinical evidence

“…It contains various phenolic compounds, enzymes, and sugars and is known for its antioxidant, anticancer, antiinflammatory, and antibacterial properties. (Scepankova et al, 2021). Honey has been used in wound dressings for thousands of years.…”

The use of Indonesian randu honey for chronic wounds in a patient with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus: A case report

“…Wound healing requires a healthy environment to proceed with a natural healing process; therefore, a suitable dressing material must be used. As a wound dressing, honey can provide a moist healing environment, improve pressure ulcer healing rates, provide antibacterial properties, deodorizes, promote angiogenesis, granulation, and epithelialization, and reduce inflammation, edema, and exudate production [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] . Therefore, in our case, we chose honey as a wound dressing to stimulate the wound healing process.…”

Evaluation of the Healing Effect of Ointments Based on Bee Products on Cutaneous Lesions in Wistar Rats

“…Mannose, galactose and N-acetylglucosamine are found on all living epidermal cells, while fucose is found only on the granular layer, and N-acetyl galactosamine is found on spinous and granular cells [18]. Literature data show the benefit of using honey in wound healing: it has a very good diffusion rate in the skin and also stimulates the growth of the affected tissue, accelerates healing and produces debridement [22]. In debridement, honey acts synergistically with another apitherapy product, propolis, as observed for the present study on day 6 for incision, day 9 for excision and day 12 for burn.…”

“…In addition, the hygroscopic capacity of honey has contributed to a significant reduction in edema. In clinical practice, topical honey treatment promoted cell and tissue regeneration and had antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions (alleviating pain in the affected region) [22,23]. For the batch treated with honey ointment, dermal collagenization was observed, as for the batch treated with propolis, but not of the same intensity, which intervenes favorably in the healing process.…”