Medical Grade Manuka Honey | Wound Care Products

Honey is nature's antibiotic. Since the dawn of mankind honey has been used as an effective medicine. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra, famous for her daily honey and milk baths, already knew about the cosmetic benefits of honey.

Also digestive uses have been reported far back in time. The natural antibiotic has been used for sore throats and coughs for centuries and also as an effective wound care solution. Since the last century this ancient natural remedy for the treatment of infected wounds has been replaced by antibiotics but:

"In ancient history the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans all used honey, in combination with herbs and on its own, to treat wounds" (Zumla and Lulat,1989).

But when more and more bacteria developed a resistance against antibiotics honey is being rediscovered by modern medicine as an effective antibacterial agent.

Picture of Queen Cleopatra by: Allposters

All honeys contain hydrogen peroxide which is known to act as an antiseptic. The acidity of honey prevents the growth of many bacteria. (The pH of honey is commonly between 3.2 and 4.5.) Also the osmotic effect of honey kills bacteria.

Manuka honey has something extra. The chemical composition of these properties haven't been determined yet. But many studies done by the Waikato University in New Zealand and the Technical University of Dresden Germany provide proof for the efficacy of several medical uses.

This extra, powerful property is described as the Unique Manuka Factor, the MGO component or the Molan Gold Standard.

Topical use of medical honey may reduce odors, swelling, and scarring when used to treat wounds; it may also prevent the dressing from sticking to the healing wound resulting in less pain and discomfort.

Medical manuka honey helps wound and ulcer healing thanks to these various aspects:

• Its antibacterial properties reduce infection;


• Increases blood circulation to the wound;


• Reduces inflammation, which leads to less swelling and pain relief;


• Its antioxidant activity decreases the amount of destructive free radicals;


• Speeds wound closure by hastening granulation and epithelialization;


• Reduces wound odour by preventing ammonia production;


• Its osmotic effect draws dead tissue, exudate and dirt from the wound;


• Its debriding action allows easy detachment of scabs and dead tissue;


• Provides a moist wound environment which aids healing.

digestive: stomach ulcers, sore throat, stomach relief, benefits digestion.

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acid reflux
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When to use Manuka Honey as a topical treatment. When it comes to Manuka honey for topical use, there are several purposes. Most of them are scientifically proven effective.
Manuka honey is used effectively on:

• wounds
• cuts
• scrapes
• insect bites
• burns
• sunburn
• acne
• boils
• ulcers
• fungal infections

antibiotics often ineffective at clearing up fungal infections.

Some of the features of active manuka honey when used as a wound dressing include:

• Honey provides a moist healing environment.
• Unlike many other topical antiseptics honey causes no tissue damage.
• Honey makes direct contact with the wound's surface but the dressing does not stick, so there is no pain or tissue damage when dressings are removed.
• Honey prevents wounds from infections and is effective in fighting infections and around 60 species of bacteria.
• Antimicrobial properties prevent new microbial growth.
• Quickly reduces swelling, inflammation and pain
• Clears infections rapidly
• honey is more effective than silver sulfadiazine and a polyurethane film dressing (OpSite®) for the treatment of burns.
• Promotes rapid healing with minimal scarring
• Stimulates tissue healing. The acidity of honey might be the cause of the stimulation of the healing process.

* The Waikato Honey Research Unit website provides a wealth of scientific reports on the evidence for honey supporting wound healing

Honey is proven to be effective where conventional modern therapeutic agents like antibiotics are failing.

Topical antibiotics like Neosporin (triple-antibiotic ointment), Neomycin and Bacitracin can cause skin reactions with prolonged usage. Many doctors recommend only 3 to 5 days of a topical antibiotic. Manuka honey does not have these side effects.

Manuka Honey is honey with special, powerful and unique health benefits. More general information on Manuka honey here.

More about Manuka honey wound care benefits...

Widespread evidence shows

Manuka's anti bacterial agents are effective at treating open wounds

Manuka honey provides a moist healing environment

It is recommended to only use medical grade Manuka honey in order to accomplish safe wound care. This means the honey is sterilized by gamma irradiation. Because there are many micro organisms in honey this procedure is necessary to avoid infections.

Medical Manuka honey products manufactured by the company Derma Sciences, are the only FDA-cleared, honey-infused wound dressings on the American market. Derma Sciences and stakeholder Comvita are owner of the Medihoney trademark. Derma Sciences (Comvita) is the most trustworthy company offering manuka honey for medical use.

Other companies, such as Honeymark, sell Manuka honey-based wound lotions and creams online. These products are less tightly regulated by the FDA.

In 2007 Comvita became the global leader in medical honey products by taking over the Australian company Medihoney.

Comvita's Medihoney brand incorporates a range of medical grade wound treatment honey and honey dressing products that are in some cases proven to be more effective than conventional medications.

Medihoney dressings have several, unique, aspects.

"Previously untreatable wounds of many types are now found to be treatable by honey,"

Comvita's Chief Marketing Officer Scott Coulter:

"The Gel Sheet developed by Dr. Molan is a unique patented system for holding Medihoney Antibacterial Honey in contact with a wound while at the same time absorbing what the wound exudes,"

"Absorbency and antibacterial activity are two of the key benefits wound-care clinicians look for when evaluating wound dressings."

Dr Peter Molan, professor at the University of Waikato, who leads the university's world-renowned Honey Research Unit has developed a revolutionary new product: active Manuka honey based wound treatment sheets

At the moment there is no evidence of it but the new product that is yet to be released to the international market might help in treating scars as well.

Published research shows Manuka honey having an effect on collagen metabolism. ( Scar tissue is made of collagen) More information about effective scar treatment.

Several studies have been done on the efficacy of honey in burn care. Of six major randomized controlled trials of honey five showed honey to be superior to other types of treatment. (Subrahmanyam)

"With silver sulfadiazine, the most widely used agent to prevent or clear infection in burns, 7% of the patients had infection in the burns controlled within 7 days, whereas with honey 91% of the wounds were sterile within 7 days."

Superficial and minor burns dressed with honey healed effectively and significantly faster and were less likely to be colonized with bacteria than those dressed in more conventional ways.

The studies compared the use of honey soaked dressings with silver sulphadiazine (SSD) impregnated gauze , polyurethane film and some other dressing techniques.

Honey is not superior in all cases though. The most recent study conducted by Subrahmanyam showed that early excision and grafting, the modern standard of care, was more effective than honey in the treatment of burns.

More details about these studies can be found here

Note: The information provided on this page is for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is intended to be used for medical care or treatment. It is important that wounds that are not healing are seen by a registered medical practitioner by physicians or trained medical personnel.