Thermal burn on the chest of a three-year-old male infant was healed using L-Mesitran Ointment. Thermal burns are a significant concern in pediatric patients, and effective therapies are needed to prevent infection and promote wound healing. Medical Grade Honey (MGH), such as L-Mesitran Ointment, offers excellent care in such cases, due to its antimicrobial and pro-healing properties. In this study, the patient’s burn wound was treated with daily application of MGH, resulting in a progressive healing process without scar formation. The use of MGH was found to be easy, painless, and beneficial for the patient, demonstrating its effectiveness as a first-line treatment option for pediatric burn injuries.
Patient history
A three-year-old male infant presented with a scald caused by boiling water/coffee. He suffered from an extensive partial thickness burn covering part of the front mid thoracic and abdominal area with several burned islands around the central lesion. This second degree burn was similar in severity across the wound.
Product: L-Mesitran Ointment
Case study done by: E. Smaropoulos, MD PhD, e-mail: lsmaropoulos@gmail.com
The wound was treated with daily medical grade honey (MGH) monotherapy (L-Mesitran Ointment) and closely monitored.
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Results after burn wound treatment with L-Mesitran
The patient directly after the incident presented to the hospital. The wound was painful, and after cooling the wound was treated with MGH. The next day, the wound looked a slightly more red, which is seen commonly with burns. At day 2, the wound started to become more pink. The wound was clearly becoming more superficial at day 4, and around the edges of the wound skin flakes can be observed, indicating skin renewel. The following days, the wound progressively healed and the scales and pink colour further decreased and turned into normal skin (day 7). At day 10, only small pink spots could be observed. Wound was completely healed after 14 days and with a perfect cosmetic result, and no scar formation. Although the wound was painful, the child had no discomfort due to the MGH treatment.
Discussion on the effect of Medical Grade Honey
Burn injuries in children continue to be a major epidemiologic problem around the globe and affect millions of children worldwide (1). While the mortality rate following treatment of major burns is less than 3%, new therapies that prevent and treat the infection while inducing wound repair are warranted.
MGH for wound care is promising as they possess both antimicrobial and pro-healing capacity (2-5). The application of MGH covers the wound and prevents invading pathogens and infection. The antimicrobial activity is orchestrated by multiple mechanisms: the low pH, strong osmotic action, production of hydrogen peroxide, and the presence of antibacterial molecules. MGH keeps the wounds moisturized, which together with multiple other mechanisms results in enhanced wound healing.
MGH was easy to apply and did not cause any pain or discomfort for the patient; in contrast, it seemed that the application of MGH relieved sensations of pain and itching. The use of MGH in pediatrics is restricted because of the fear of botulism. However, this fear is ungrounded as any spores of Clostridium in MGH are killed by gamma-sterilization and follows strict defined standards (6, 7).
In a comparison study between honey and silver sulfadiazine in burn wounds, all wounds treated with honey were sterile within 7 days, while only 36.5% of the silver sulfadiazine treated wounds became sterile by day 21 (8). In addition, the average healing time was significantly less in the honey group, and more wounds developed complete healing, reiterating the pro-healing and antimicrobial effects (8). L-Mesitran has safely and effectively been used in pediatric and preterm neonatal patients, also in patients with burns (2-5).
In conclusion, MGH is safe, easy to apply, and cost-effective to treat a burn injury in a pediatric patient. MGH therapy can be recommended as the first line of treatment and should be considered to treat a variety of wounds.
References
- Krishnamoorthy V, Ramaiah R, Bhananker SM. Pediatric burn injuries. Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci. 2012;2(3):128-34.
- Smaropoulos E, Cremers NA. Medical grade honey for the treatment of paediatric abdominal wounds: a case series. J Wound Care. 2020;29(2):94-9.
- Smaropoulos E, Cremers NAJ. The pro-healing effects of medical grade honey supported by a pediatric case series. Complement Ther Med. 2019;45:14-8. Smaropoulos E, Cremers NAJ. Treating severe wounds in pediatrics with medical grade honey: A case series. Clin Case Rep. 2020;8(3):469-76.
- Smaropoulos E, Cremers NAJ. Medical grade honey for the treatment of extravasation-induced injuries in preterm neonates – a case series. Advances in Neonatal Care. 2020;in press.
- Postmes T, van den Bogaard AE, Hazen M. The sterilization of honey with cobalt 60 gamma radiation: a study of honey spiked with spores of Clostridium botulinum and Bacillus subtilis. Experientia. 1995;51(9-10):986-9.
- Hermanns R, Mateescu C, Thrasyvoulou A, Tananaki C, Wagener FADTG, Cremers NAJ. Defining the standards for medical grade honey. Journal of Apicultural Research. 2020;59(2):125-35.
- Baghel PS, Shukla S, Mathur RK, Randa R. A comparative study to evaluate the effect of honey dressing and silver sulfadiazene dressing on wound healing in burn patients. Indian J Plast Surg. 2009;42(2):176-81.