Lisa Querry

   Usually when one hears the word maggot we don’t associate it with anything good or interesting, but for once maggots are good or so some think!  These slimy creatures have been demonstrated to do excellent things for wound healing.  Maggot debridement therapy is the use of live larvae to go into wounds and clean out the dead tissue so they can heal much faster.  As gross as this may seem it is actually very beneficial for bad wounds, some have been using this method dating back to before written history!

In the United States medical maggots are regulated by the food and drug administration for medical use only.  This process takes two to three days of the maggots being inside of a wound covered with special dressing.  The maggots natural instinct is to migrate away from clean tissue so it goes and gets rid of all of the bad.  Cleaning throughout the wound, these maggots promote healthy tissue growth.

The use of Maggot therapy is still going strong today; in 2011 approximately 50,000 wounds were being treated with this process. Although it may seem scary, it is much more efficient then any antibiotic or topical treatment for a wound.  These can be most beneficial for people who have chronic wounds such as pressure ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers, and non-healing traumatic or post surgical wounds.  So before you see the word maggot and get utterly repulsed, think about the benefits that you could reap from this larva and how it could help if you had a serious wound!

“Medical Maggots™ (maggot Therapy, Maggot Debridement Therapy, MDT, Biotherapy, Biosurgery, Biodebridement, Larval Therapy).” Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.