Natural healing

Why is Mānuka honey better than chemical alternatives? What do nurses like about using Mānuka honey wound dressings?

Transcript

Brett Hewlett (Comvita)

I think the natural sourcing has a lot of merit, a lot of credibility. Using natural products in the woundcare space is very important for a lot of clinicians because you have much lower risk of toxicology and other side effects.

If you compared this to a pharmaceutically-derived drug or an ointment or something that was being developed and put into a wound dressing, it would take a lot of trials and a lot of clinical evidence gathered to prove that it’s not toxic to end consumers.

Julie Betts (Health Waikato)

The big advantages are that you can apply it easily to a wound, and you don’t have to guess how much honey to use so the whole dressing is impregnated with honey. You can pack it into a cavity, or you can use it on top of a wound, so you don’t have to source a different kind of dressing - whether it’s a hole or whether it’s a flat surface wound. It’s relatively easy to see when the honey’s gone so you know when to change it, and it’s absorbent.