Healing is a Sweet Deal at Flushing Hospital’s Wound Care Center

Flushing Hospital Wound Care Center was recently featured on CBS’ April 14th morning news health segment. Health reporter Dr. Max Gomez examined the Wound Care Center’s use of a honey-based dressing, MediHoney, to treat patients with chronic and non-healing wound.

The Wound Care Center currently treats four patients with MediHoney. These patients have wounds that have showed no improvement after other treatments failed, VAC therapy and other specialty dressings included. Honey has been used as a final attempt for any possible healing.

“In our observation, the honey dressing tends to work better on deeper cavities than superficial wounds,” said Dr. Roberto Cantu, General Surgeon at Flushing Hospital. “We’ve seen significant improvement in our patients.”

MediHoney works primarily because of its natural healing properties. It is made from various honeys found in New Zealand and Australia, including manuka honey, which speeds healing and kills germs. In addition to being antimicrobial and fluid absorbing, it also helps dissolve dead tissue, reduces inflammation and helps eliminate odors associated with infected wounds. The effects are long-lasting.

Patients apply the honey-based dressing to their wounds once daily.

Martiza Rao, Clinical Nurse Manager at Flushing Hospital’s Wound Care Center, said that MediHoney works well for patients with “weeping wounds”— pressure ulcers, open wounds, chronic infections, wounds as a result of radiation, and wound dehiscence; adding that the honey-dressing does not work well and should be avoided by patients who are allergic to bees or who have dry wounds.

Using honey to treat wounds began over 4,000 years ago by the ancient Egyptians. They treated scrapes and cuts with honey as a way to kill bacteria, prevent bacteria growth, and ultimately heal individuals’ wounds.

Honey-based dressings have been popular in New Zealand, Austraila, and Europe for years but were recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

To view segment, please visit http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=111271