Clinical evidence of DerMel honey
DerMel is a wound care brand that offers two products based on pure honey. DerMel Skin Ointment is designed for the treatment of superficial wounds, while DerMel Wound Dressing is specifically developed to adress complex and infected wounds. Neither product contains hormones (corticosteroids), making them suitable for all ages and long-term use. Many patients with acute and chronic wounds have been successfully treated with DerMel honey for more than 10 years. Clinical trials had been carried out in some hospitals such as Bronovo Hospital (The Hague, The Netherlands), Hôspital Yves le Foll (St. Brieuc, France) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Birmingham, UK).
Properties and use of a honey dressing in wound management
Professor Steven Jeffery, Department of Burns & Plastic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
British Journal of Nursing 2019, 28(6)
“Medical-grade honey dressings in general have been shown to be advantageous in their ability to promote autolytic debridement of devitalised tissue within wounds, significantly reducing malodour and pain. Overall, honey as an agent for autolytic debridement has been considered effective in wounds that contain ≥40% devitalised tissue. This factor is particularly important when dressing chronic, sloughy or overgranulating wounds. They also offer a viable alternative to silver-based dressings. DerMel honey dressings can be used to treat a variety of wounds and patient indications. The dressing provides a moist wound environment, stimulates healing, neutralises wound odours and provides topical protection”.
“From the clinical evidence as discussed is this paper, we can conclude that muchis to be gained when DerMel honey is applied for wound treatment. Summarized, DerMel honey has a number of features beneficial to patients with moderate to severe wounds:
– Infected wounds: Infected wounds become clean and no residues are left in the wound.
– Chronic wounds: Chronic wounds proceed to the regenerative phase, because inflammation decreases and the formation of granulation tissue is stimulated.
– Acute wounds: DerMel honey is unique in creating a moist wound environment and simultaneously protecting the wound for infection.
– Strong antibacterial effect: MRSA and MSSA bacteria are equally sensitive to killing by DerMel honey.
– Diabetic patients: DerMel honey applied to a wound does not affect a raise in blood sugar level. DerMel honey can thus be applied safely to wounds of patients suffering from diabetes mellitus”.
DerMel honey, a successful remedy for wounds
Dr. O. Groenhart, Wound specialist, Bronovo Hospital, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Published in WCS News 2006
Medical‐grade honey kills antibiotic‐resistant bacteria in vitro and eradicates skin colonization
Paulus H. S. Kwakman et al, Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008, 46 (11)
“The variation in bactericidal activity of 11 batches of medical-grade honey was <2-fold. Antibiotic-susceptible and-resistant isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae, and Klebsiella oxytoca were killed within 24 h by 10%–40% (vol/vol) honey.
After 2 days of application of DerMel honey, the extent of forearm skin colonization in healthy volunteers was reduced 100-fold, and the numbers of positive skin cultures were reduced by 76%. DerMel honey is a promising topical antimicrobial agent for prevention or treatment of infections, including those caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria”.
“This experience study shows that DerMel Skin Ointment reduces the symptoms of atopic eczema in the majority of patients. The main complaints that decrease in severity are erythema, excoriations, itching and insomnia. The ointment combines a soothing base ointment, for good moisture balance and restoration of the skin’s barrier function, with special anti-inflammatory, wound-healing and antibacterial effects.
DerMel Skin Ointment can be seen as a ‘base ointment plus’ and excels in applications that support medication treatment”.
Treating constitutional eczema with DerMel Skin Ointment
Drs I. Boersma, Dermatologist, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, The Netherlands
Modern Medicine 2009, 9(4)
Antibacterial components of honey (DerMel)
Paulus H. S. Kwakman et al., Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and Immunity amsterdam (Cinima), Academic Medical Center, The Netherlands
IUBMB Life 2012, 64(1), 48–55
“The high sugar concentration, hydrogen peroxide, and the low pH are well-known antibacterial factors in honey and more recently, methylglyoxal and the antimicrobial peptide bee defensin-1 were identified as important antibacterial compounds in honey”.
“The aim was to evaluate the effect of honey dressing and silver sulfadiazene (SSD) dressing on wound healing in burn patients. Study results showed that the average duration of healing was 18.16 and 32.68 days for the honey and SSD group, respectively. Wounds of all patients reporting within 1 h of burns became sterile with the honey dressing in less than 7 days while there was none with SSD. All wounds treated with honey became sterile within 21 days while for SSD-treated wounds, this figure was 36.5%. A complete outcome was seen in 81% of all patients in the “honey group” while in only 37% patients in the “SSD group. Honey dressings make the wounds sterile in less time, enhance healing, and have a better outcome in terms of hypertropic scars and postburn contractures, as compared to SSD dressings”.
Honey dressing (DerMel Wound Dressing) versus silver sulfadiazene dressing for wound healing in burn patients: a retrospective study
Dr. Shilpi Singh Gupta et al, Department of Surgery, MGM Medical College and MY Hospital, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery 2011, 4(3)
Two major medicinal honeys have different mechanisms of bactericidal activity
Paulus H. S. Kwakman et al., Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam (CINIMA), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
PLoS ONE 2011, 6(3)
“We assessed the bactericidal activity and mechanism of action of revamil honey (DerMel honey) and manuka honey, the sources of two major medical-grade honeys. DerMel honey killed Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa within 2 hours, whereas manuka honey had such rapid activity only against B. subtilis. After 24 hours of incubation, both honeys killed all tested bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, but manuka honey retained activity up to higher dilutions than DerMel honey. Bee defensin-1 and H2O2 were the major factors involved in rapid bactericidal activity of DerMel honey.
These factors were absent in manuka honey, but this honey contained 44-fold higher concentrations of methylglyoxal than DerMel honey. Methylglyoxal was a major bactericidal factor in manuka honey, but after neutralization of this compound manuka honey retained bactericidal activity due to several unknown factors. DerMel honey and manuka honey have highly distinct compositions of bactericidal factors, resulting in large differences in bactericidal activity”.