Propolis Ointment Accelerates Wound Healing

Well known for it's anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, propolis also stimulates wound healing, cell metabolism and circulation...

Topical Treatment of Nonhealing Venous Leg Ulcer with Propolis Ointment

Evid BasedComplement Alternat Med, 2013, Feb

An investigation of effectiveness of topical treatment of nonhealing chronic venous leg ulcers with propolis ointment was conducted. 56 patients were included in the study and randomized into two groups.

In group 1, there were 28 patients (ulceration area: 6.9-9.78 cm(2)) treated by means of topical propolis ointment application and short stretch bandage compression. In group 2, there were 29 patients (ulceration area: 7.2-9.4 cm(2)) treated by means of Unna boot leg compression without topical propolis treatment. In the study, the efficacy of both treatment methods in patients with resistive venous leg ulcers was compared.

The ulceration of patients from group 1 healed completely after 6 weeks of therapy in all cases. In all patients from group 2, the process of healing was longer but successfully completed after 16 weeks of the therapy.

We found that an adjunctive propolis ointment treatment increases the efficacy of the short stretch bandage compression stocking, and this combined treatment is more effective than Unna's boot compression alone...

“The propolis skin cream appears to have beneficial effects on burn wounds, inflammation of the skin, and other skin lesions. According to the results of our study, it can also be concluded that propolis skin ointment appears to have beneficial effects on healing venous ulcers. Propolis has been shown to stimulate various enzyme systems, cell metabolism, circulation, and collagen formation as well as improve the healing of burn wounds…”

“Another study of topical application of propolis on wounds, burns, and ulcers showed up to an 80% accelerated healing process compared to the controls using routine healing regimes. Treated individuals (229 patients in total) underwent applications of the propolis containing cream at two propolis concentrations (2% and 8%). The higher concentration caused local intolerance in 18% of patients by day 9, whereas the lower concentration caused adverse symptoms in only 1.8% of patients by day 16…”