Comparison between honey and povidone-iodine/normal saline dressing for management of Wagner's grade I & II diabetic foot ulcers

Aim: to compare the wound healing property of honey and povidine-iodine/normal saline dressings for wagner's grade i & ii diabetic foot ulcers. methods: this prospective-comparative study was conducted at surgical unit-1,jinnah hospital lahore,from july to december,2012. dimensions of ulcer after surgical debridement were measured to quantify the baseline wound size. the study included 60 subjects randomly assorted into two groups,one getting povidone-iodine/normal saline dressings and the other group getting honey soaked dressings. dressings were done once a day in both groups. measurements of the ulcer size were taken on 15th day and compared with baseline size to assess the percent decrease in wound size as the measure of healing property. the percent decrease in wound size was described for both groups as mean±sd and was compared using 'student t-test' keeping a p<0.05 to be statistically significant. results: the percent decrease in wound size was higher in the group getting honey-dressings (80.81±17.27%) than the povidone-iodine dressings (54.63±3.42%) (p<0.001) conclusion: wound healing was better with honey dressings as compared to povidone-iodine/dressings in diabetics with wagner grade i & ii ulcers.