Tell me good things about Manuka Honey and Silicone bandages?

[ecileh]

My field hunter came to me with a massive old scar on her RH canon bone–from an injury when she was a baby. Old and cold…no lameness, no biggie.

Until January when she somehow managed to bust it wide open again. It was unable to be stitched because of the old scar tissue and, at the time, seemed like a pretty straight forward thing to heal–if not ugly. Now, here we are in mid-May and it’s still not closed. In fact, there is now a small strip of the canon bone exposed that the tissue is not bridging over.

Long story short, we did xrays yesterday to make sure the bone is not compromised (cracked, infected, etc) and discovered that the original wound must have included some kind of fracture, as there is a big lump of remodeled bone and part of that is what is showing through the wound.

My vet referred photos and xrays to Cornell and she does not need any kind of bone debridement–thank god–but they recommended a combination of manuka honey and silicone bandages (and continued stall rest). I’ve done some reading about both and they both seem to have good results, but I would love to hear stories from people who have healed troublesome wounds with them.

Dazzle me with your miracles?

[Showbizz]

A boarder had a gelding come in from pasture with a cannon wound split wide open. She was out of town, and the barn manager kept it clean but did not wrap it and it swelled and was just big and ugly. When she returned, she started on a program of honey and silicone. Mind you, the gelding remained at pasture. She changed the bandage as needed (definitely not every day - more like twice a week earlier on and less as time went on) and after about 10 weeks, the would finally was closed over. It scarred, but looks great!

[fjordmom]

Not a horse experience, but rather a human one. On a trip to New Zealand several years ago, I (and others in the travel group) developed a chest cold with a nasty cough and sore throat. I bought some manuka cough drops. Wow did they work! A day or two and I was sooo much better. Usually when I get this type of bug, it takes a week or two and loosing my voice before I’m over it. Others in the group that also bought the drops had similar results. Those that did not were coughing for at least a week.

I bought extra drops to take home.

Manuka has been scientifically researched, at least in New Zealand. They have a rating scale for the amount of effective manuka in products.

I would certainly try it.

[TB2trk]

I had a gelding tear up a front leg so deep that the bone was exposed. Vet stitched but the concern was part of the bone dying off. After a couple of weeks, xrays showed signs that that was starting to happen. So I slathered manuka honey on the wound, covered it with 4x4 squares, wrapped with brown guaze and then vet wrap. I did this daily for several weeks and kept him on stall rest. Holy cow! It was amazing how fast it closed up with the added bonus of just minor amounts of proud flesh. The horse has only a tiny scar. And it was horrific! Vet couldn’t believe the improvement. I now keep plenty of honey with all my other emergency supplies. Not sure if I dazzled you with my story but I am now a card carrying honey believer! I say give it a try.

[goodhors]

I had good luck closing a wound using the Manuka honey. It was up on the ribs, not a leg. Gravity affected the skin weight, pulling the lower side down. It was stitched and I left them in as long as possible, which helped heal the underlaying tissue. After stitches came out I just could not get the skin to close. He wore a rainsheet to keep things clean, no turnout with such a big hole. Vet advised the honey use after wound quit progressing. I found Manuka honey in the local drugstore, cheaper than online!

I smeared it on, with more above the hole, figuring his warm skin would allow honey to drip onto wound between treatments. We had SKIN inside a couple days!! Wound was about 10-11 inches long, gaped open from inch at ends to 2-3 inches in the center. The narrow ends healed quickly, with center dragging out longer, but closing almost in front of me! I was putting honey on twice a day. I think we were done closing in a couple weeks. I did keep him in a bit longer to insure skin was getting thicker, to take turnout in his rainsheet, rolling and bucking. He does have a scar, but it is not real obvious, more like an odd whorl in his hair. I thought we did really well healing, with the big mess it started as. I gave us a 95% success on my own healing scale, because “it left a mark”. Scar does not affect him.

I have not used silicone bandages, no opinion on them for healing.

On our leg wounds, I wrap and keep horse in the stall until hair is starting to grow back in. You go from daily treating to spacing it further apart as healing takes place, but no turnout. Hand walking to prevent exuberant behaviour that rips healing apart! I can’t keep bandages in place when I turn them out. They play too hard. This is way overkill work for many. Here they all healed well, horses were 100% sound for hard work after. One or two had a tiny scar (98% on my scale, leaving a mark) but most were 100%, in being scar free, sound to work. Does take a while, much more work, but by keeping hole covered, the new skin never gets dry to split open, start granulation for scarring. I do not want granulation, because it causes scarring. New skin is about 90% water, so being exposed to air dries it FAST, splitting open again. Skin is ready to be left uncovered, though gooped over with heavy Nutrogena hand cream, when new hairs start showing. Horse can be turned out then, though wound STILL gets gooped over twice a day with Nutrogena (tube stuff) to prevent drying skin. No other goop type cream is recommended. Not Vasaline, Corona, Bag Balm, Aloe types all warm up and run off, do not stay on the new skin.

As I said, time and work to get healed, but results are worth it to me. No scar or only a line I can find, on a horse ready to perform hard. Wounds varied from broken wire wrapping legs, hock, cut tendon, broken splint bone from a kick, on to kicking thru a stall wall, trapping the leg in a 2" thick Oak board! Horse was stuck standing that way a while, before we found her. Leg was a real mess. Bones exposed, big holes to close. Quite the variety of leg wounds, but spread over many years at least. Not treating bad wounds often, thankfully.

Good luck healing your girl’s leg! I would use the Manuka honey again on a wound. Keep a damp rag handy, it is very sticky, gets on things as it warms up and spreads! Ha ha I think mine ran $9 the 4oz tube. Very thick coming out, trying to spread it. It worked when nothing else did on the rib wound, in getting skin to cover the hole. New trick for me, but now I have a tube of Manuka Honey in my First Aid box.

[ecileh]

Thank you, folks, for sharing your stories! I have confidence in my vet, but it’s always nice to hear that real people have used a method successfully.

[vali]

I’ve used Manuka honey and also manuka honey bandages, covered with standing wrap on a leg injury. Worked beautifully.

[SusanO]

Are you using the makuna honey that you find at the drugstore?

[walktrot]

Absorbine has a new manuka honey product called Silver Honey. There was a horse at our barn about 5 years ago that had a horrendous split of the skin on his butt from a fall. The vet was able to stitch it closed and it held on for several days when swelling popped the stiches. The owner cleaned it daily and it did close up although it took some time. They started using manuka honey and it did make a noticeable difference. There is research that it cleans up the wound because it destroys bacteria among other things.

[ecileh]

Thank you, everyone, for your success stories! I have faith in my vet, but it’s always good to hear from fellow owners.

@SusanO the manuka I am using is actually medical grade, provided by the vet. He had thought over the counter stuff would be fine, but the wound specialists at Cornell indicated that there can be contaminates in OTC stuff so we went for the high test. It’s only money, right?

[SusanO]

Ecileh - thanks! I was just at the vet Tuesday but I can have them deliver. I will call them. I have a horse that gets leg sores from the wet grass. I healed it up last year but she has scar tissue in that spot that is getting irritated when she lies down to sleep. Since she refuses to sleep in the stall and lies down in the grass I need to get that area healed up better before I am dealing with a sore all summer that the flies irritate. I am open to try this stuff.