Effectiveness of Indonesian Honey on the Acceleration of Cutaneous Wound Healing: An Experimental Study in Mice

The purpose to investigate the effectiveness of Indonesian honey in wound healing in comparison with Tegaderm hydrocolloid dressing and Manuka honey. Three groups of male mice were treated to produce two circular full-thickness skin wounds on the dorsum. They were then randomly allocated to receive daily Indonesian honey, Manuka honey or hydrocolloid as a control for treatment application. Macroscopic findings were observed from day 0 to 14 after wounding. Microscopic findings on days 3, 7, 11 and 14 after wounding were obtained. The ratios of wound areas for honey groups on day 3 were smaller than those of the control group. Wound areas of honey groups gradually decreased to almost the same wound area as the control group on day 14, while the wound area of the control group peaked on day 5 and rapidly decreased until day 14. On day 3, myofibroblasts and new blood capillaries in wound tissue of honey groups were observed, but not in the control group. After day 7, microscopic findings were almost the same among all groups. These results indicate that Indonesian honey is almost as effective for wound healing as Manuka honey and Tegaderm hydrocolloid dressing