The effect of honey gel on cesarean incision pain: A triple blind clinical trial

Abstract

Honey is considered as a remedial in the Qur'an. Today, honey is used in wound healing and pain relief. This study was designed to assess the effects of honey gel on postoperative pain and analgesic need after cesarean section. This triple blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on women who underwent cesarean section in Imam Ali Hospital, Iran. Patients were categorized into three groups: drug (37 patients), placebo (38 patients), and control (54 patients) by random allocation. Patients in the drug group received 25% local honey gel, while placebo group received similar gel without honey twice a day for 14 days. No intervention was given in control group. Pain was measured using visual analogue scale on the 7 and 14th day after surgery. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The mean pain intensity did not differ significantly between groups on the 1st day, but on the 7th day it was 14.44, 26.41 and 25.73 (P=0.01), and on the 14th day it was 0.27, 5.84 and 4.07 (P=0.02) in the drug, placebo and control groups, respectively. The need for analgesics in the first 10 days was 11.5% in drug group, 62.6% in placebo group and 45.9% in control group which was significantly different (P=0.02). Until the 14th day, no patient needed analgesics in the drug group while 40 and 60% of patients in placebo and control groups required analgesic, which did not show a significant different (P=0.09). Honey gel was effective in cesarean wound pain and in reducing the need for analgesics.