Honey Dressing versus Pyodine Dressing for the Treatment of Diabetic foot ulcers

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of honey in healing of diabetic foot ulcers with povidone iodine.

Methods: It was a randomized controlled trial performed in Ayub Teaching Hospital from August 2013 to July 2014. Total 320 diabetic patients with infected wounds both acute and chronic of all ages and both genders were included. Foot ulcers were divided in two groups of 160 patients each through simple convenience sampling. Povidone Iodine was used in one group for wound dressing while honey was used in the other group. Patients were followed in weekly/fortnightly appointments and time to recovery, surgical debridement as well as presence of complications was recorded for each patient. Recovery time (in weeks) and debridement rate were noted for each patient. All the patients underwent initial surgical debridement in operation theater under general or regional anesthesia and then daily dressing was done in the ward. 

Results: Recovery time in honey dressing was in first 3 weeks 56.2 % and in 4-6 weeks was 44.6%. In pyodine dressing in first 3 weeks it was 43.8 % and in 4-6 weeks it was 56.6 %. Honey was found to have a faster recovery time as compared to povidone iodine (p=0.034), Similarly honey was more effective than povidone iodine in wound healing (p=0.014).

Conclusion: Honey is more affective alternative to povidone iodine in diabetic foot ulcers. More studies are needed to validate these results as well as to explore the role of honey in other wounds. 

Keywords: Diabetic foot ulcers, Honey dressing, Pyodine Dressing