Honey as Topical Dressing in Chronic Wound: A Systematic Review

Chronic wounds were still a great problem. It affected over 6 million people in US, and the number have increasing with increased of aging population and some chronic disease including diabetes mellitus, vascular disease, rheumatology, and others. Many substances had been studied in order to treat chronic wounds, one of them is honey. Honey is a substance that have been known for medical used for centuries. In many countries, honey used as topical treatment of wide range of wound traditionally. The development of science has showing the bioactive compounds in honey that potentially have therapeutic effects in wound healing process. This systematic review is aimed to evaluate the role of topical honey in chronic wounds by studying 34 publications that obtained from electronic databases. Most studies report the positive outcome of using honey as topical chronic wounds treatment, including more rapid epithelization, it exhibits the anti-inflammatory effects, relieves pain, controls the infection, debridement properties, and has fewer side effects, thus shortening wound healing time.