Dead Sea (DS) mud and
salts are known for their therapeutic and cosmetic properties. Previous studies confirmed their efficacy in treating the more frequent
skin diseases such as
psoriasis and
atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the wound healing potential of natural and compounded
skin-care product (facial mask) of DS black mud in BALB/c mice. Two full-thickness excision round
wounds were created on the dorsum region of mouse. Each
wound of mice test group were treated topically with 50 microL of 0.1% natural or compounded DS black mud or 50 microL of 0.2%
nitrofurazone once a day for 2 consecutive days and the mice control group were left untreated. Healing was assessed by measuring the granulation tissue weight and percentage of
wound contraction at day 3, 7, 14 and 21 after wounding. In addition to period of epithelialization and histological evaluation of the regenerated
wound area at day 7 and 14 after wounding. Results revealed that DS black mud accelerate wound healing process by enhancing granulation,
wound contraction, epithelialization, angiogenesis and
collagen deposition. This may be due to high content of minerals and
trace elements that possibly act as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and
antioxidant with enhancement effect on cell proliferation, migration and fibroblast cellular activity. However, the healing property of DS black mud compounded in
skin-care product was greater than that of natural black mud, when compared to reference
drug,
nitrofurazone.