Treatment of partial thickness burn wounds using tualang honey, hydrofibre and silver dressing: A pilot study

The objective of this study was to compare the clinical aspect of the healing properties of honey in partial thickness burn wounds to those treated using hydrofibre or silver dressings. A randomized, non-blinded prospective study of burn patients treated with hydrofibre impregnated with tualang honey, plain hydrofibre and hydrofibre silver treated at our burn unit was made. Clinical evaluation and photo documentation during each dressing change were recorded and analysed. The pilot study consisted of 50 out of a targeted sample population of 60 patients. The average time for epithelization for wounds treated using hydrofibre and tualang honey was 18 days, in comparison to 21 days for hydrofibre silver and 12 days for hydrofibre alone. The mean number of dressing changes was 5 for patients treated using hydrofibre honey, 4 for hydrofibre alone and 6 for hydrofibre silver. Patients tolerance to pain during dressings was equal among all groups of dressing materials with some patients complaints of burning sensation at wound sites following dressings with honey. Five percent of wounds treated with tualang honey showed greenish or yellowish discharge during initial dressings and became clean later, while the remaining area of the wound was clean throughout the treatment course. The mean length of hospital stay was 5, 3 and 10 days for hydrofibre and tualang honey, hydrofibre alone and hydrofibre silver, respectively. As a recommendation, future studies on this subject with a bigger sample size are required to further validate the findings. Honey is considered to be a suitable option to replace the other modern dressings in treating partial thickness burn wounds because of it is antibacterial properties, its high osmolarity and it is rich in nutrients.