My six weeks visit to the Doctor and to my Occupational Therapist turns out
to be my last. For those who may not know, I had an operation on my hand
and got permission to treat the wounds with honey five days after the
operation and before the stitches were removed.
On the visit to get my stitches out, two weeks after the operation, the
healing was so pronounced that the Doctor allowed me to continue honey
treatment. The Occupational Therapist noted that I had much more range of
movement in my hand at this stage than normal, so she allowed me to
continue therapy on my own.
At the six week visit, the Doctor was impressed with both my range of
movement and the healing of the wound. He estimated I was a minimum of
three to four weeks ahead of schedule in the healing process. In addition,
he felt the scars and asked If I had been massaging them I had not. He
commented that the scar tissue was soft and not hard as is normal.
I had discontinued honey treatment on one finger as a control. I did not
tell him this and he noted the scar tissue on that finger was thicker than
the finger on which I never stopped treatment.
Five weeks after the operation I had stopped treatment completely. The
wounds on my fingers and part of the hand were completely healed. The
deepest cut was near closed so I thought I would allow it to finish on its
own, but it seemed to stop and would not close. At the six week visit I
learned that the fissure, in many cases, will remain open as a ridge and
never close, so I restarted treatment. It has started closing again.
The Doctor has asked for a source of raw honey so they can start a series
of controlled tests using honey to treat wounds.
Two Occupational Therapists looked at the healing and range of movement.
One had never seen such rapid progress. The other had one patient who was
about as far along in movement but not wound healing. He was a mechanic and
could not stop using his hand. He also had a great deal of swelling at the
six week point. I have limited swelling on one knuckle.
The consensus was that because honey allows the wounds to heal from the
bottom up with a minimum of scar tissue and heals much quicker than
"normal" healing, it allows quicker and easier freedom of movement. Had I
not treated, I should have experienced increased immobility with increasing
scar tissue through the third to sixth week. Instead the amount of scar
tissue remained the same or decreased.
They discharged me at the six week point, however they want me to come back
on their nickel to see how I am at the twelve week point.
I was a bit concerned using honey as a treatment for such a fairly major
operation, but I had used it before for minor cuts and it did work well. I
can see several drawbacks to its use and they all reside in the patient and
their willingness to put up with applying it and that it can get messy. But
it really does work and work exceptionally well. I told the Doctor I only
wish I had been allowed to put it on right after the operation and not five
days later.

Sorry for the length of the post.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME