Maggots Clean Wounds Faster Than Doctors

[quest7]

Maggots may work faster than any surgeon when it comes to cleaning large wounds that are slow to heal. Typically, doctors use scalpels and special enzymes to lift dead tissue from such wounds; researchers in France wanted to see if maggots could speed the process. They compared the two therapies on patients suffering from venous leg ulcers, keeping both groups of subjects blindfolded so they couldn't tell what kind of treatment they were getting.

Maggots are able to liquefy and digest dead tissue. After a week of the two therapies, wounds on patients who'd undergone surgical cleaning were two-thirds covered in dead tissue. Wounds belonging to patients who'd gotten the maggot treatment were just 55% covered in the tissue

 

[woodstorm]

Seen it first hand on the street. Older homeless lady history of Diabetes and neuropathy had non healing wounds on her legs. Didn't seek medical attention for several weeks. When she got into the ED after complaining of pain to the area, makeshift bandages were unwrapped to find very deep wounds to the calf that were absolutely clean due to several maggots living in the wounds. Don't know the outcome of her stay but, the wounds looked great.

 

[9to5cynic]

I think I saw this on TV not that long ago, they showed someone with major wounds over a large portion of their body - and they dumped maggots on them. *shivers*

Seems to work though.

 

[2k2cse]

They had a story about this on Untold Stories of the ER..a homeless man had a leg wound and his entire leg was covered in maggots.. I can handle a lot of gross things, but that made me queasy..

 

[woodstorm]

Not that uncommon. It's far better than the smells of rot.

 

[TJGoSurf]

When I heard this I wanted to say, you know we've been doing this for thousands of years? We need to learn to live better with nature than to fight it. I've used maggots for years on my wounds. Jungle/tropical medicine is very freaking cool. It's amazing what grows in our backyards.

 

[william0216]

it is true, the africans use maggots to heal their wound. The Maggots eat the ulcers and sanies in the wound.

 

[Frisco]

Maggots are eaten as a part of some cheeses in several areas of the world.

So, I guess this is a wake up call on maggots, eh?

Hooray for maggots. Yessiree.. good ole maggots.. mmmm..