Histological and clinical studies of wound healing were performed in comparable cases of fresh partial-thickness
burns treated with honey dressing or
mafenide acetate in two groups of 50 randomly allocated patients. Of the patients with honey-treated
wounds, 84% showed satisfactory epithelialization by day 7 and 100% by day 21. In
wounds treated with
mafenide acetate, epithelialization occurred by day 7 in 72% of cases and in 84% by day 21. Histological evidence of reparative activity was observed in 80% of
wounds treated with honey dressing by day 7 with minimal
inflammation. Fifty-two per cent of the
mafenide acetate treated
wounds showed reparative activity with inflammatory changes by day 7. Reparative activity reached 100% by day 21 with the honey dressing and 84% with
mafenide acetate. Thus, in honey-dressed
wounds, early subsidence of acute inflammatory changes, better control of
infection, and quicker wound healing were observed, while in
mafenide acetate treated
wounds a sustained inflammatory reaction was noted even on epithelialization.