Image Above: Mānuka Tree Blossoms
People interested in natural medicine and herbal healing have long spoken of the health benefits of mānuka honey, but this groundbreaking treatment, reported in the International Journey of Surgery Case Reports, takes this exotic healing honey to a whole new level.
A 55-year old Danish man went to his doctor with a lower urinary tract infection (UTI) and the foreskin on his penis had become too tight to pull back. He was referred to University Hospital Zealand in Roskilde, Denmark. Initially doctors thought he might be suffering from balanoposthitis, where the foreskin and glans become inflamed, but he was circumcised. Following a biopsy, they diagnosed him with non-cancerous tumors covering the root, shaft and tip of his entire penis, causing the skin to split (penile denudation) and become infected.
He first underwent surgery for this devastating and agonizing condition to have the tumorous masses removed. The next step of the process was intended to be skin grafting reconstruction.
The skin grafts failed to take hold. Undeterred, the doctors resorted to using dressings of mānuka honey and within just two weeks healthy tissue began to fill in the genital wound. A second skin graft was attempted according to the medical team leader, Dr. Amalie Sylvester-Hvid, but it didn’t work either, so they reverted to using honey dressings again. The patient, who used a catheter the entire time, was even able to remove the dressings himself every other day without pain or difficulty. It was reported by the medical team that 52 days after this non-invasive treatment began, the penis was completely healed.
This 4:19-minute long video is a must see if you want to buy Mānuka honey to make sure you get the real thing:
Mānuka honey is from New Zealand and is made from the nectar that bees collect when they pollinate mānuka trees. It has a natural antiseptic enzyme that produces hydrogen peroxide, and has superior anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties that help stimulate skin cells. A pH between 3.2—4.5 increases the release of oxygen from haemoglobin to promote healing. Methylglyoxal is the ingredient that sets mānuka honey apart when it comes to superior anti-bacterial activity. It has had success with treating wounds that are hard to heal, and medical grade mānuka has successfully treated diabetic leg ulcers, burns and gangrene.
The honey treatments not only healed the man’s penis externally, but also allowed him to regain full sexual functionality of his penis. Doctors were pleased with the results.
This opens exciting new possibilities for healing work with the potent and popular mānuka honey. The medical team said that using mānuka honey is relatively inexpensive and requires a minimum of medical training. It has negligible negative effects and could be an ideal first-aid dressing for people living in remote locations, and for those with wounds to their genitals, especially to prevent infections. It even seems to be powerful enough to take on resistant MRSA strains, which studies show are susceptible to this honey’s antibacterial properties.
The doctors said mānuka honey might be a potentially easy solution to the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. Mānuka honey dressings and gels have been available on the market in some countries for several years. Let’s hope that mānuka honey soon finds an acceptable place in the physician's wound treatment protocols.
In the case reported above, doctors used medical-grade mānuka honey. This means the honey was sterilized with gamma radiation to kill bacterial spores without reducing the honey's anti-bacterial effect.
New Zealand honey production was poor last season, and this may be due to freak weather disruptions and overcrowding of mānuka sites with hives by competing beekeepers, especially in East Coast and Northland, where many are trying to jump on the mānuka honey gold rush.
This could lead to a precarious situation for the bees, as overcrowding could cause bees in the area to starve. With only so many flowers and so much nectar to go around, too many bees will mean none of them are properly fed.
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