Venous leg ulcer: Management aspect in Indian scenario.

In India, many indigenous and traditional home remedies are commonly used including honey, neem oil, Aloe vera. However, there are no evidence based studies to advocate their use in leg ulcers. Honey-impregnated dressings did not significantly improve venous ulcer healing at 12 weeks compared with usual care in a large community-based open-label randomized trial (Level B).[1] Activated charcoal has been tried in malodorous leg ulcers.[2] Boiled potato peel (PP) dressing has been used in chronic leg ulcers (Level D).[3] The PP dressing acts as a barrier, thereby protecting the wound against exogenous agents and secondly the cork layer of the PP prevents dehydration, thereby providing a moist environment which is the single most important factor for wound healing. Honey-impregnated dressings have been used for its antiseptic/antibacterial effects and have shown a favorable outcome in wound healing in burn patients; in comparison to boiled PPs[4] and silver sulfadiazine.[5] (Level C).