The idea of putting maggots into open flesh may sound repulsive, but such a therapy might be a quick way to clean wounds, a new study from France suggests.
Men in the study, all of whom had wounds that wouldn't heal, were randomly assigned to have dead and unhealthy tissue removed from their lacerations by either standard surgical therapy or maggots (that eat dead tissue).
After about a week, men who received the maggot therapy had less dead tissue in their wounds than men who underwent surgery, the researchers said.
However, after two weeks, the immature insects had lost their advantage: Both groups had about an equal amount of dead tissue in their wounds. And in the end, the maggots did not help the wounds heal faster.
Its been done here since at least the War Between the States. Best way to debride necrotic tissue.
ReplyDeleteWar Between the States
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention this, I vaguely remember something about it.
The use of maggots for the treatment of wounds is dated back to Biblical times. They have been used through out history and on every continent by the locals as they will only eat the dead flesh and as such, gangrene will not set.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteI have read of this for sometime. Good info!
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought so.
ReplyDelete