By Stephen Stirling
The doctors recently began treating Albrecht's wound with a honey-based bandage called MediHoney. Infused with honeys from New Zealand and Australia, the bandages utilize honey's natural antimicrobial and fluid absorbing qualities to aid the human body in cleaning and healing deep, open wounds.”In our observation, the honey dressing tends to work better on deeper cavities than superficial wounds and therefore is working especially well for Frank,” said Dr. Roberto Cantu, general surgeon at Flushing Hospital. “This is truly the most improvement we've seen in him in such a short period of time.”Cantu said Albrecht has shown marked improvement since they began using MediHoney in December. Albrecht, who had tried several different speciality bandages, as well as the technologically advanced and expensive VAC therapy, said he was excited to see progress after so long.”The honey dressing is working very well and I'm very pleased with my improvement,” Albrecht said. “It's healing slowly, but at least it's healing.”The use of honey as a healing agent dates back several thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians used honey as a means of treating cuts and scrapes as well as to kill bacteria and prevent bacteria growth. Though the concept is hardly new technology, the specialized bandages were only recently approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”Since its recent approval, I'm sure we'll see a lot more hospitals using this approach,” said Martiza Rao, clinical nurse manager at Flushing Hospital's Wound Care Center. “MediHoney is gentle and benign and is nature's way of healing you.”Flushing Hospital said it is currently treating four patients with MediHoney bandages.For more information on the use of honey dressings or any other services at Flushing Hospital's Wound Care Center, call 718-670-4542.Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
