Treatment of Wounds by Sugar.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 76

Treatment of Wounds by Sugar.

Dr Meyer considers (so an English scientific paper tells us) that gauze used as a dressing newt to open wounds is apt to adhere to the raw surface, so that it cannot be deftaobed "without causing pain and irritation, and without leaving behind fibres that wdil cause irritation. Moreover, in deep wounds the gauze may become saturated wirth. wound secretion, and,aot as cvrlture ground for germs. He has, however, obtained excellent results from the use of ibrown sugar sterilised by heat and mixed with a small percentage of salicylic aoid. A thick layer of this mixture is sipread over the open wound, and oybt this is applied a gauze dressing. The sugar, it is stated, , tak'as up the effused blood and wound secretions very energetically. At a change of dressing tihe small dry masses of brown sugar can be easily removed without causing any pain by a stream of sterilised water, and a fresh layer of sugar is then applied. The freedom from pain and the absence of reaction in wounds thus treated have convinced T>r Meyer that sugar, by tits oapooifcy for absorbing round secretion and of thus keeping the raw surfaces quite dry, may be relied upon as a sure agent for protecting the open surface against infection.