Efficacy of Honey Dressings in Treating Chronic Leg Ulcers in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Disease

Poster title
Introduction
Ulcers have been known to be a prominent cause of dermatologic
consultation and the leg ulcers are considered to be the most common
cause of ulcers in people. Over the years advances in the fields of
medical sciences have led to new and improved methods of treatment
which are much more effective in treating chronic ulcers of patients.
This research mainly tries to evaluate the efficacy of honey dressings in
the treatment of chronic leg ulcers in patients with peripheral vascular
disease. The results obtained from the research would eventually help us
to understand how the honey dressings are playing a vital role in
speeding up the healing process in the patients suffering from chronic
leg ulcers .
The research question developed as a part of the research are as
follows:
1) Do chronic leg ulcers, of patients with peripheral vascular disease
(P), treated with honey dressings (I) heal faster (O) than those with
conventional dressings (C)?
2) What are wound specialists (P) perspectives about using honey
dressings (I) for chronic leg ulcers (Co)?
Author/Authors
University of the Sunshine Coast
Results
The researcher has made use of 5 research articles which included 3
qualitative researches and 2 quantitative researches.
From the evaluation of the research data and outcomes it has been found
that the use of honey as an effective Anti-bacterial, Anti-inflammatory
Anti-oxidant and Anti-viral Agent has been found to gain greater
acceptance among the medical community. Researchers have found out
that honey indeed has many healing properties which makes it an
effective intervention process for treating the leg ulcers suffered by
patients of peripheral vascular disease (Yaghoobi & Kazerouni, 2013).
Researchers have also found that the traditional complimentary medicines
have assumed a greater significance in the treatment of venomous ulcers
and this is why the complimentary medicines are nowadays being used in
combination with the modern scientific medicines in order to ensure a
more effective and holistic treatment process for the patients suffering
from venomous ulcers (Hussain, 2015).
Discussion
From the research it has been found that though honey has many anti-
bacterial and healing properties which makes it an effective alternative
in the treatment process of leg ulcers but that does not undermine the
importance of the traditional intervention procedures. The researches
considered in this study did not find any landmark or significant
improvement in the healing process from the use of honey dressings in
the treatment and intervention of leg ulcers. As compared to the
conventional intervention process. This clearly points to a lot of
ambiguity regarding the effectiveness of the honey dressings in
treating the leg ulcers of patients suffering form peripheral vascular
disease (Cioinac, 2017).
Conclusion
The research clearly does not provide any substantial evidence about
the effectiveness of the honey dressing technique in treating the leg
ulcers in patients suffering from peripheral vascular disease. However,
more thorough and conclusive research needs to be undertaken in this
field in order to determine whether any significant improvement in the
treatment and intervention process can be obtained from the use of
honey dressings.
References
Cioinac, SE. (2017). Complementary Medicine and Venous Ulcers: Review of
Literature. Health Care : Current Reviews, 05(01).
Dogra, S. and Sarangal, R. (2014). Summary of recommendations for leg
ulcers. Indian Dermatology Online Journal, 5(3), p.400.
Hussain, S. M. A. (2015). A comparison of the efficacy and cost of different
venous leg ulcer dressings: a retrospective cohort study. International journal
of vascular medicine, 2015.
Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M., & Lucas, R. E. (2011). Secondary data
analysis: An introduction for psychologists. American Psychological
Association.
Velasco, M. (2011). Diagnostic and treatment of leg ulcers. Actas Dermo-
Sifiliográficas (English Edition), 102(10), 780-790.
Walliman, N. (2017). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.
Yaghoobi, R., & Kazerouni, A. (2013). Evidence for clinical use of honey in
wound healing as an anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory anti-oxidant and anti-
viral agent: A review. Jundishapur journal of natural pharmaceutical
products, 8(3), 100.
Methods
For searching the data and information pertaining to the research, the
researcher has made use of the PICO strategy. The researcher has searched the
medical databases such as PubMed and CINHAL to develop the qualitative and
quantitative questionnaire pertaining to the research.. The search strategy
included making use of the PICO or PICO table which has been illustrated
below.
The researcher has made use of certain keywords along with certain boolean
operators like (AND and OR) in order to find out the relevant data and
information pertaining to the chosen research topic. The Keywords played a
vital role in helping the researcher to find out relevant peer review research
articles pertaining to their chosen research topic (Walliman, 2017).
The Keywords utilised during the searching process include - honey, dressings,
ulcers, chronic leg ulcers, peripheral vascular disease.
The researcher has made use of inclusion and exclusion criteria which
allowed them to obtain the necessary hits during the searching process. The
researcher was able to filter the research articles based on the language and
duration (year) in which they had been carried out by the previous researchers.
This eventually played a vital role in helping the researcher to carry out their
research in an effective and accurate manner which eventually enabled them to
arrive at accurate research outcomes (Trzesniewski et al., 2011)