OT Do you lick your wounds?

[micky]

OT Do you lick your wounds? Or maybe not so OT, because when do I get half of my wounds, during home repair.

I do, and I mentioned this to a female friend of mine, and she said there were a lot of germs in one's mouth and he shoudln't do that.

Searching the web, here are excerpts from web pages, about people likcking thier own wounds, dogs licking their own wounds, and dogs brought in to lick people's wounds.

My question remains, do you lick your wounds?

(July 24, 2008) ­ A report by scientists from The Netherlands identifies a compound in human saliva that greatly speeds wound healing. This research may offer hope to people suffering from chronic wounds related to diabetes and other disorders, as well as traumatic injuries and burns. In addition, because the compounds can be mass produced, they have the potential to become as common as antibiotic creams and rubbing alcohol. .....Specifically, scientists found that histatin, a small protein in saliva previously only believed to kill bacteria was responsible for the healing.

-- So even before this, they believed it killed bacteria. --

After 16 hours the scientists noticed that the saliva treated "wound" was almost completely closed. In the dish with the untreated "wound," a substantial part of the "wound" was still open. This proved that human saliva contains a factor which accelerates wound closure of oral cells. Because saliva is a complex liquid with many components, the next step was to identify which component was responsible for wound healing. Using various techniques the researchers split the saliva into its individual components, tested each in their wound model, and finally determined that histatin was responsible.

"This study not only answers the biological question of why animals lick their wounds," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "it also explains why wounds in the mouth, like those of a tooth extraction, heal much faster than comparable wounds of the skin and bone. It also directs us to begin looking at saliva as a source for new drugs."

Dog Saliva Really Does Have Antibiotic Properties!

People often ask about dogs licking their wounds, and whether that promotes healing or gets in the way of proper healing. There?s nothing quite so pitiful as an injured dog wearing one of those big conical collars to prevent them from doing what they most want to do by nature ? lick their wounds.

And while it?s certainly good to keep your pet from licking freshly stitched cuts (he might pull out stitches and end up with a bigger, uglier scar), once the stitches have been in place for a few days and begin to dissolve or are very soon to be removed, letting the dog go ahead and lick may even promote healing.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it?s true that dog saliva has antibiotic properties. Specifically, dog saliva contains lysozyme, an enzyme that lyses and destroys harmful bacteria. This means the enzyme attaches to the bacterial cell wall ? particularly gram-positive bacteria ? and weakens it, leading to rupture.

The second reason is direct stimulation of the tissues and small blood vessels surrounding the wound site. This helps to increase blood flow and promote the growth of new capillaries, while the blood brings white cells, platelets, growth factors and other of the body?s natural healing agents to the wound site.

the data on wound licking is not all positive. In the mouths of mammals we also find certain anaerobic bacteria such as Pasteurella. While not harmful in the mouth, Pasteurella can cause serious infections when introduced deep into an open wound. There are a number of reports of this happening, and sometimes the results have been extremely negative, causing infections that have resulted in amputations, and sometimes the resulting infections have been life threatening.

Have you ever heard of such a Psteurela complication or an amputation from wound licking?

[Stormin Mormon]

I've licked burns, but not other wounds. Maybe I should start?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I do, and I mentioned this to a female friend of mine, and she said there were a lot of germs in one's mouth and he shoudln't do that.

Searching the web, here are excerpts from web pages, about people likcking thier own wounds, dogs licking their own wounds, and dogs brought in to lick people's wounds.

My question remains, do you lick your wounds?

(July 24, 2008) ­ A report by scientists from The Netherlands identifies a compound in human saliva that greatly speeds wound healing. This research may offer hope to people suffering from chronic wounds related to diabetes and other disorders, as well as traumatic injuries and burns. In addition, because the compounds can be mass produced, they have the potential to become as common as antibiotic creams and rubbing alcohol. .....Specifically, scientists found that histatin, a small protein in saliva previously only believed to kill bacteria was responsible for the healing.

-- So even before this, they believed it killed bacteria. --

After 16 hours the scientists noticed that the saliva treated "wound" was almost completely closed. In the dish with the untreated "wound," a substantial part of the "wound" was still open. This proved that human saliva contains a factor which accelerates wound closure of oral cells. Because saliva is a complex liquid with many components, the next step was to identify which component was responsible for wound healing. Using various techniques the researchers split the saliva into its individual components, tested each in their wound model, and finally determined that histatin was responsible.

"This study not only answers the biological question of why animals lick their wounds," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "it also explains why wounds in the mouth, like those of a tooth extraction, heal much faster than comparable wounds of the skin and bone. It also directs us to begin looking at saliva as a source for new drugs."

Dog Saliva Really Does Have Antibiotic Properties!

People often ask about dogs licking their wounds, and whether that promotes healing or gets in the way of proper healing. There's nothing quite so pitiful as an injured dog wearing one of those big conical collars to prevent them from doing what they most want to do by nature

- lick their wounds.

And while it's certainly good to keep your pet from licking freshly stitched cuts (he might pull out stitches and end up with a bigger, uglier scar), once the stitches have been in place for a few days and begin to dissolve or are very soon to be removed, letting the dog go ahead and lick may even promote healing.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it's true that dog saliva has antibiotic properties. Specifically, dog saliva contains lysozyme, an enzyme that lyses and destroys harmful bacteria. This means the enzyme attaches to the bacterial cell wall - particularly gram-positive bacteria - and weakens it, leading to rupture.

The second reason is direct stimulation of the tissues and small blood vessels surrounding the wound site. This helps to increase blood flow and promote the growth of new capillaries, while the blood brings white cells, platelets, growth factors and other of the body's natural healing agents to the wound site.

the data on wound licking is not all positive. In the mouths of mammals we also find certain anaerobic bacteria such as Pasteurella. While not harmful in the mouth, Pasteurella can cause serious infections when introduced deep into an open wound. There are a number of reports of this happening, and sometimes the results have been extremely negative, causing infections that have resulted in amputations, and sometimes the resulting infections have been life threatening.

Have you ever heard of such a Psteurela complication or an amputation from wound licking?

[bender]

Do you lick your dick?

[Robert Macy]

I had heard that saliva had a compound so tried. My experience was ...depends on the injury.

If cut, the best was to wash with 99% alcohol, keep clean and dry heals fast.

If scraped [large abrasded surface], wash with peroxide, or alcohol, keep clean and dry heals fast.

However, if EITHER injury has any contamination from organic materials like paint or chemicals like ?? THEN slaiva washes that off and out much better than any water wash does. Don't know why, but seems to THEN I wash with alcohol, keep clean and dry and heals fast.

[micky]

Yeah, but you didn't answer the question.

[micky]

Good for you. I think my father would have lived a lot more years if they had artificial or pig valves then.

Of course. I'm not a dog but by the time I had the stitches, I'd lose the desire to lick anyhow. They've already used antiseptic and IME it doesn't sting anymore. (I've had stitches twice, but not for injuries, just as part of surgery. )

I should add, a) cuts sting when t he air hits them, and iirc, licking wounds and covering them with saliva stops the stinging.

b) The warning about infections refered to "deep" wounds, and I've only had one deep wound, about 20 years ago, from a wrought iron fence stake, and I went to a clinic that took me immediately. It never occurrred to me to lick that, because it needed far more than a lick.

I rarely use bandaids anymore for the small cuts I get, and often a small cut will get red for less than half a millimeter, but within 6 or 12 hours that goes away. I don't know if licking has anything to do with it, but I'll keep on lickin' . .

[micky]

It does sound worthwhile.

If I still went camping etc. I would want some too.

That deep wound above, 1/2" W x L x D, a cube, inside my elbow, actually only bled about 3 drops in the 20 minutes before the doctor started working on it. Counting the blood I washed into the sink. Then I went back and took a photo, went to the street and caught a cab (5 or 10 minutes to the clinic) and at least 5 minutes before the doctor started working on me. I didn't know it was possible to have such a big hole with almost no blood. I ripped a tendon a little bit too, but maybe they don't have any blood either.

[micky]

That's qutite a story. I don't think I've ever had a 2" cut. Gives me the heeby-jeebies to think about it.

[micky]

Well, if you count cuts when I was unconscious, I have a 3" scar where my repeatedy dislocating shoulder was repaired, 35 yars ago, and an L-shaped scar about 20" long from abdominal surgery 4 years ago. I wonder if "Que es mas largo" is as good as "Quien es mas macho?" : grin.

[micky]

When I was working in the yard with no shirt, a local child asked about it once. She was sort of horrified by the long one. The horizontal portion at waist level has probably disappeared (but without a mirror I'm too fat to know for sure) but the part straight up my belly (with a lillle detour to leave my belly button in place) is pretty darn ugly and will probably never disappear entirely In fact it may always be ugly.

The short one is a masterpiece. I was able to find one of the best orthopedic surgeons around, who did only shoulders 4 a week,, and he did all kinds of drilling in my bone, cutting my tendon from an arm muscle, and routing it through the hole in the bone, so the tendon would hold the arm in place, and he did it all through a 3" hole, 1" of which is hidden when I put my arm to my side, and 2" of which are just an elongation of the wrinkle at the armpit.

This guy did his own physical therapy too. He took 2 or 3 feet of surgical tubing and tied it into a circle, and then gave me exercises to do at home between appointments. He nver suggested my going to anyone else Of course I was only 32. Maybe for old folks he did differently.

Why not? He thought you would come open at the seam?

"Zipper cut"?

Absolutely.

Yes.

For the first 25 years of my life, I had a dark surface-level mole in the very middle of the back of one hand, and when I was 8 I liked the fact that I could be identified if kidnapped. But sometime after 30, it totally disappeared. I would think if it could last 25 years, it would last forever. .

Now they have the belly scar, plus the other one, a dark line over an inch long where there used to be round hole 1.5" in diameter, that for four months was the exit of my intestines. That was the worst, especially since no matter how strongly he said it, I wasn't sure it would be reveresed. Now that it's reversed, it really wasn't so bad.

I thought they would sew it up when they put me back to normal, but instead there was a hole there, an inch deep with bright red walls, like you see on a piece of meat at the butcher shop, that I had to stuff with new gauze every day, after I soaked it in some chemical. Two 4" pads iirc. I don't know what was at the bottom of the hole but I don't think it was red. And I live alone so I had to do it myself, even when I was disgusted. .

For weeks it didn't get smaller at all, but iirc after 4 weeks it started and only took 2 or 3 weeks to close up. I never got an infection.

Too much information , I guess.