Posted on 07/24/2005 8:16:44 PM PDT by Libloather
Maggot Treatment Saves Mich. Woman's Foot
Sun Jul 24, 9:38 AM ET
BAY CITY, Mich. - Barbara Enser wasn't very comfortable at first with the idea of using maggots to clean the wound on her right foot. But if it meant saving it from amputation, she was willing to give it a try.
The 57-year-old Bay City woman was diagnosed with diabetes 40 years ago and subsequently lost her left leg to the disease. She also suffers from neuropathy, meaning she has no feeling in her foot or leg, and ulcers or wounds can develop from constantly putting pressure on the foot.
"I'm just hoping this works because I think this is the last straw for saving the foot," Enser told The Bay City Times before a recent treatment. "I don't like creepy, crawly things. I won't even kill a creepy, crawly thing."
Enser went through a number of other procedures to stem the infection that is spreading through her foot. She had the wound cleaned with a scalpel and has been on antibiotics.
But after those failed, she turned to Dr. Gerald L. Dowling, head of the podiatry section of the Orthopedics Department at Bay Regional Medical Center. He first treated Enser with maggots on July 6.
For the procedure, the maggots — about 2 millimeters each in size — are placed on the wound, then surrounded by an adhesive foam, clear tape, and a gauze bandage.
By July 8, the maggots had swelled to twice their normal size and eaten away part of the infection. When Dowling removed the bandages two days later, Enser's foot was looking better. Healthy, pink skin was replacing the dead tissue, and the swelling was down in her foot and ankle.
The maggots do more than just clean a wound. They also dissolve the infected tissue, kill bacteria and leave an enzyme behind that stimulates healing. They will only eat the infected tissue, leaving healthy tissue alone.
"In general, maggots have the capacity to distinguish viable and dead tissue on a cell-by-cell basis," said Dr. Steven M. Holland, chief of the laboratory of clinical infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
As much good as the first treatment did, Dowling decided to go with one more treatment. And when the bandages from the second procedure were removed 72 hours later, Dowling deemed the procedure a success.
Once the bandages were taken off, the maggots were removed using tweezers and the area was rinsed with a saline solution. Dowling then cut away leftover dead skin.
I'm glad it worked for this lady, but the gross out factor is very high.
New use for IRS Agents and Feds!
sweet Mother, do NOT google 'maggots on wounds' if you don't want to see maggot performing their miracles.
Been around for years. Remember Gladiator?
Finally.
Someone has come up with useful work for Democrats.
Perhaps to cure baldness, rub goose droppings over the affected area.
LOL!!!!!
So when the drill sergeant is calling a private a maggot, he is really calling them a discerning, hard worker?
>>Modern medicine. What will they think of next?
Actually, this practice is old.
However, don't try this at home. Screwfly maggots eat healthy flesh, and these fly's have made a [small] comeback here in the US...
They will eat you alive.. Not pretty...
>>Modern medicine. What will they think of next?
Actually, this practice is old.
However, don't try this at home. Screwfly maggots eat healthy flesh, and these fly's have made a [small] comeback here in the US...
They will eat you alive.. Not pretty...
>>The maggots do more than just clean a wound. They also dissolve the infected tissue, kill bacteria and leave an enzyme behind that stimulates healing.
I read about this many years ago. I think the enzyme was "allantoin." (Somebody please look it up. I'm afraid of seeing a picture.)
this is actually been used quite a bit lately...
there was this one case though, the maggots were put in a hip wound of a young fellow and I swear to God they came thru into his catheter bag.....quite gross.....
Someone needs to put these critters on the Endangered Species List, so we don't run out of them.
The maggots used are not screwfly maggots, and they only eat dead flesh..
Screwfly maggots eat dead and live flesh.. We had eradiated them due to the damage they do to livestock -- they eat sheep alive (flystrikes), etc..
For a while they were eliminated, but recently have made a slight comeback.
Don't try this at home, because you probably don't know how to identify a screwfly..
Here is another link...
http://www.pirweb.org/pir04b_leech.htm
Wish I had known about this before last Thursday when they removed my mother's leg above the knee. She has diabetes and had to have a toe removed, the shoe they gave her to wear caused two blisters, one on top of her foot and one on the back of her ankle which turned into really bad ulcers that did not heal. By the time they decided to remove her leg her tendon was exposed, 4" long and an inch wide causing her severe pain. She had a knee replacement so they had to remove her leg to above the knee replacement. Since she is 87, I wonder if she will survive to get out of the hospital.
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