MayoClinic.com reprints
This single copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. For permission to reprint multiple copies or to order presentation-ready copies for distribution, use the reprints link below.
· Order reprints of this article now.
Honey: Can it heal wounds?
By Mayo Clinic staff
- With Mayo Clinic dermatologist
Lawrence E. Gibson, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Lawrence E. Gibson, M.D.
Lawrence E. Gibson, M.D.
Dr. Lawrence Gibson likens bad health information on the Internet to food poisoning.
Consumers, he said, need to be aware, and will find reliable information at MayoClinic.com.
Dr. Gibson, a Covington, Ky., native, has been with Mayo since 1986 and is board certified in dermatology, dermatopathology and immunodermatology. He is a professor of dermatology at Mayo Medical School and a consultant in the Department of Dermatology.
Dr. Gibson has been director of the Dermatopathology Laboratory since 1998 and chair of the Laboratory Division in the Department of Dermatology since 2000. He is especially interested in inflammatory disorders of the skin and lymphoma affecting the skin.
"Electronic information is becoming a staple in the diet of a health conscious society," he said. "It's important to avoid misinformation and provide a credible source for health information. Using this analogy, it's critical to avoid 'indigestion' or worse yet, 'food poisoning' by the ingestion of tainted information."
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Question
Honey: Can it heal wounds?
Is it true that applying honey to a wound may speed healing?
Answer
from Lawrence E. Gibson, M.D.
Yes. Some evidence suggests that applying honey to minor cuts and scrapes may hasten healing.
When applied to a wound, honey provides a thick, protective barrier, which shields the wound from outside contaminants. Honey may also help disinfect the wound due to a chemical interaction between a specific enzyme in honey and damaged skin tissue that produces a form of hydrogen peroxide. In addition, honey has been shown to reduce inflammation and swelling. In March 2007, the Food and Drug Administration approved a honey-impregnated wound-dressing product for wound and burn care.
However, it's important to note that the specialized honey used in wound products and in research studies is different from honey available to consumers. Also, the honey used in research studies has been treated to remove contaminants. It's not clear at this time whether ordinary supermarket honey has the same wound-healing effect.
