Researchers use maggots to heal diabetic wounds

[Tank]

Researchers use maggots to heal diabetic wounds

(Medical Xpress) -- At the recent Interscience Conference on Anti-Microbial Agents and Chemotherapy, Dr. Lawrence Eron from the University of Hawaii presented his results on the use of maggots to heal diabetic wounds. The small trial treated 37 diabetic patients with 27 showing successful outcomes.

Conventional treatment for healing diabetic wounds is debridement, or the removal of infected and dead tissue with enzymes or scalpels, but these treatments are not always successful and often result in the need for amputation. Eron believes that maggot debridement may be the answer.

Eron and his team treated 37 patients, all with a type of artery disease that contributed to poor circulation and stubborn wound healing. Some of the patients had wounds up to five years old. The team placed 50 to 100 maggots on the wound and sealed them with a mesh-like material similar to pantyhose where they remained for 1-2 days. The maggots were then removed and replaced by fresh maggots for another cycle. This was repeated for five cycles...

Which would you prefer sir, the scalpel or the maggots?

[Davin]

Definitely the maggots, they're so cute. Plus the scalpal doesn't only remove the dead/rotting flesh while maggots only eat that stuff.

[Tank]

Definitely the maggots, they're so cute. Plus the scalpal doesn't only remove the dead/rotting flesh while maggots only eat that stuff.

By all accounts one can feel the maggots feeding 

[Davin]

Definitely the maggots, they're so cute. Plus the scalpal doesn't only remove the dead/rotting flesh while maggots only eat that stuff.

By all accounts one can feel the maggots feeding 

That is a bonus, imo. Now I want to make an unhealing wound just to experience it.

[OldGit]

Speaking as a diabetic - thanks very much! 

[Tank]

Being type 2 myself I'd rather have maggots than a scalpel.

[Asmodean]

They are useful, those maggots... You can fish with them, use them to treat burns an other sores if they are properly washed and irradiated or whatever first and now, apparently, this. They nearly as useful as my rats. 

[DeterminedJuliet]

Working at a vet clinic, I've had more experience with maggots than I care to recall.  

But I have heard that they are good for wound healing! I remember reading something about how an ER doctor saw a homeless man with a severe abscess and it was covered in maggots. The man was doing pretty well, besides his wound, but as soon as they got rid of all of the maggots and cleaned him up he got very ill and died.

The maggots were helping to keep the infection at bay.

If it was me, I'd let them do whatever works best I probably wouldn't want to watch, though)

[Sandra Craft]

Definitely the maggots, they're so cute. Plus the scalpal doesn't only remove the dead/rotting flesh while maggots only eat that stuff.

By all accounts one can feel the maggots feeding 

This is what would keep me from OK'ing the maggots.  I understand that they're the better solution but the squick factor is just way too high for me.

[xSilverPhinx]

Definitely the maggots, they're so cute. Plus the scalpal doesn't only remove the dead/rotting flesh while maggots only eat that stuff.

By all accounts one can feel the maggots feeding 

Turn it into a feeling of being cleansed Hey, dead flesh...

I would prefer the maggots, provided that they're certified lab-born and raised. I can get a little squeamish.

[Sweetdeath]

Now there's a conversation starter. XD