Anyone Use Sugar On A Wound?

[Neighsayer]

My new foster degloved his lower leg by sliding off the edge of a deck two weeks ago. He got 70 stitches to put it back together. His owner had died, and the woman caring for him misunderstood the directions regarding checking the wound and changing the bandage. I picked him up on Sunday and took him to my vet on Monday. The wound was a bloody oozing mess. The vet wants me to change the bandage daily and use sugar on the wound. I read up on this, and it sounds like it should work. It works on people! Anyone ever try it? Did it work?

[JAJ2010]

Use manuka honey. It is magical

[krissy]

I love sugar bandages, but I usually use honey because it is less messy. Has to be unpasteurized honey. Sugar/honey bandages are high maintenance though. They produce a lot of fluid and therefore you are more likely to get strike through (wetness soaking through all layers).

[silverfish]

Yep, I have done - I used icing sugar (all I had) on a huge graze my son had once that wouldn't heal but kept oozing. Dried up overnight. The sugar works by pulling moisture out of the tissue and at the same time not allowing bacteria to grow.

 

Manuka honey is way better though. You need medical grade ideally, but really, any high UMF factor Manuka Honey will do at a pinch for superficial wounds. Spread it onto the wound and bandage with a non-stick dressing. You can leave it on for a couple of days actually, but I usually change it daily. I've been very impressed with the results.

Edited March 26, 2013 by silverfish

[4My2Greys]

Adding my recommendation for the Manuka honey. I healed a really deep, badly infected wound on Nadir with Manuka honey.

[Guest june]

Works great. One of mine had an ugly 2" x 3" open wound that sugar helped to heal!

[Guest WhiteWave]

I use sugar a lot. Casper had a deep cut on his leg and it got infected a couple weeks ago. I use my old standby- suger, betadine and bag balm (or vaseline)- mix together and packed in the wound, cover with gauze and vet wrap. After one treatment- the oozing stopped and the tissue looked pink again.

 

I read about the combo years ago in a health magazine and have used it on some pretty nasty wounds and they all healed up quickly.

[heartdogs]

What can you use instead of Betadine in this mixture? I'm allergic to Betadine so never have it around,

[racindog]

Use manuka honey. It is magical

YEP. My thoughts exactly. www.manukahoneyusa.com

[EnzaFerrari]

Uh- I had no idea! Very cool. (the honey yes, but not sugar)

[silverfish]

Uh- I had no idea! Very cool. (the honey yes, but not sugar)

 

According to my mother, who was a nurse at the time (and until she retired) sugar used to be used a lot in WW2 for combat wounds. It was cheap, and while rationed, was fairly easily available. Might even have been exempted from rationing for medical purposes.

[cendrine1]

We used sugar right up to the 70's and then it fell out of favour. In the last couple of years I have been seeing a lot of use of Medi-Honey on humans. it is being prescribed by physicians, enterostomal therapists and chiropodists mainly for ulcers with infection. It does seems to induce a lot of drainage initially but as the infection clears, the drainage decreases.

 

BTW, we advise our human patients to ensure they get protein at every meal and supplement with zinc and vit C to promote wound healing. Would love to know the vet perspective on this as it applies to hound healing.

[TINMANPDX]

One of the fellows in our adoption group was told by his vet to pack his hound's happy tail injury with sugar - he thought it was nuts, but says it worked just great.

[Guest Lgyure85]

Glad I saw this! Maddie got a big tear on her chest from running through over-growth in our backyard. I put gauze with Bactine on it and wrapped it with Coban, but I'll be making this concoction tomorrow (after taking her to the vet to check the half-dollar sized hematoma she also got). Natural selectio is just not kind to the Greyhound! (Fast dogs with small brains and paper-thin skin!)

[GreytNut]

Have used regular table sugar and it works very well.

 

I have used raw honey too and it also does a great job.

[Guest artemiss]

Yes! Actually our vet uses white Karo and we used plain ol' clover honey when Ezri had a gaping gash that wouldn't stay stiched. it healed with barely a scar. After that I stopped using neosporin on myself and started using honey. Good stuff.

[Neighsayer]

I tried sugar for a few days, and switched to honey yesterday. Not sure which is messier. I was tracking sugar ll over the house, but the honey made my fingers stick together!