A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Honey-Impregnated Dressing for Treating Diabetic Foot Ulcer.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of Beri-honey-impregnated dressing on diabetic foot ulcer and compare it with normal saline dressing. STUDY DESIGN A randomized, controlled trial. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Sughra Shafi Medical Complex, Narowal, Pakistan and Bhatti International Trust (BIT) Hospital, Affiliated with Central Park Medical College, Lahore, from February 2006 to February 2010. METHODOLOGY Patients with Wagner's grade 1 and 2 ulcers were enrolled. Those patients were divided in two groups; group A (n=179) treated with honey dressing and group B (n=169) treated with normal saline dressing. Outcome measures were calculated in terms of proportion of wounds completely healed (primary outcome), wound healing time, and deterioration of wounds. Patients were followed-up for a maximum of 120 days. RESULTS One hundred and thirty six wounds (75.97%) out of 179 were completely healed with honey dressing and 97 (57.39%) out of 169 wtih saline dressing (p=0.001). The median wound healing time was 18.00 (6 - 120) days (Median with IQR) in group A and 29.00 (7 - 120) days (Median with IQR) in group B (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The present results showed that honey is an effective dressing agent instead of conventional dressings, in treating patients of diabetic foot ulcer.