Scientific literature shows that highly active antimicrobial honey from the nectar of particular leptospermum trees has been used to successfully heal a wide variety of wounds and infections that have not responded to other treatments. The use of honey as a wound dressing goes back to ancient times and has continued into present-day folk medicine. It is used as a traditional therapy for infected leg ulcers in Ghana, and as a traditional therapy in Mali for the topical treatment of measles, and in the eyes of patients to prevent corneal scarring. Honey creates a moist healing environment that allows skin cells to regrow across a healing wound flush with the surface of the wound, preventing deformity of the skin. Honey causes scabs and dead cells to lift off the surface of the wound, leaving a clean healthy wound bed in which regrowth of tissue can occur.
Honey stimulates the regrowth of tissue involved in the healing process.
It stimulates the formation of new blood capillaries and the growth of fibroblasts that replace the connective tissue of the deeper layer of the skin and produce the collagen fibers that give strength to the repair. In addition, honey stimulates the growth of epithelial cells that form the new skin cover over a healed wound. Honey thus prevents scarring and keloid formation, and removes the need for skin grafting even with quite large wounds. Honey does not stick to the underlying wound tissues, so there is no tearing away of newly formed tissue, and no pain, when dressings are changed. Honey has an antiinflammatory action, which reduces the swelling around a wound.