Maggot therapy

Maggot therapy is a type of biotherapy involving the introduction of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into non-healing skin and soft tissue wounds of a human or animal for the purpose of cleaning out the necrotic (dead) tissue within a wound (debridement) and disinfection.

There is evidence that maggot therapy may help with wound healing.

Maggot therapy is known to be used in chronic wounds to remove necrotic tissue, stimulate granulation tissue formation and kill bacteria. In diabetic foot ulcers with the problem of bacterial resistance, this therapy has been used as an alternative treatment of these ulcers. 

Maggot therapy was more effective and efficient in debriding nonhealing foot and leg ulcers in male diabetic veterans than was continued conventional care.

The maggots have four principal actions: Debridement, Disinfection of the wound, Stimulation of healing, Biofilm inhibition and eradication.

Maggot-associated pain occurs in less than 30% of patients, and most often after 48 hours of therapy, when the maggots are satiated, finished working, and trying to escape. Thus, the pain is generally predictable and treatable. Those patients with pre-existing wound pain should be warned and given access to analgesics.

For 70 years, Maggot Therapy has been known as an effective way for debridement and treatment of ulcers. Medical larva secretes the solvent enzymes from themselves that can solve the necrotic tissue, disinfects the wound and accelerates the wound healing.

Maggot therapy is not only used on horses, but on small animals as well, with the same general purpose of debriding a wound. Maggot therapy is also used in human medicine, mostly for ulcers and non-healing traumatic or post-surgical wounds. The medical maggots are not as big in size as one might expect.

Wound myiasis requires debridement with irrigation to eliminate the larvae from the wound or surgical removal. Application of chloroform, chloroform in light vegetable oil, or ether, with removal of the larvae under local anesthesia, has been advocated for wound myiasis.

There are now more than 1,000 therapists using maggot therapy in the United States, Sherman said. A treatment supply of medicinal maggots costs less than $100, but can save thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in medical, surgical and hospital costs.

There are now more than 1,000 therapists using maggot therapy in the United States, Sherman said. A treatment supply of medicinal maggots costs less than $100, but can save thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in medical, surgical and hospital costs.

The main purpose of maggot therapy is to remove dead skin from the wound site, which can impede the wound healing process. The maggots not only dissolve the dead skin with their digestive enzymes to debride the wound by also disinfect as they work.

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Editorial Team
Journal of  Biochemistry and Biotechnology