Are maggots in wounds good for you?

12 Comments

I slipped and cut my leg on a rusty nail and there was a big deep cut and the blood just kept pouring out so I tied a damp cloth around it and left it for about 2 weeks. When I took the cloth off there was still crusty blood all around it and the skin was all yellow and spongy. It was also full of little shiny white maggots wriggling in my flesh. When I was growing up we didn’t really have access to doctors and my parents always told me that the maggots were could because they clear out the dead stuff. I also like how they feel when they wriggle all over my body and I feel like a proud parent whenever I show them to anyone because there must be about 100. Should I go to the doctor?

Yes, go to the doctor 24
No, the maggots are good 9
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Comments ( 12 )
  • LloydAsher
    4 years ago | pl

    Maggots are only good if you are 100 miles from the nearest hospital or medic. Yes maggots only eat the dead flesh but it doesnt prevent infection or give you a tetanus shot. You live in a first world country if it needs stitches get it stitched if it's not that bad and you are up to date on your shots flush it with alcohol and replace with DRY bandages. If you have red inflamed flesh you need antibiotics.

    It's still up to you. Just some wisdom from a doctors son.

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    • Boojum
      4 years ago

      Good point about tetanus.

      Agree with most of what you say, but not about the alcohol wash. It's a classic trope in movies (and almost as popular as the hypodermic needle straight in the side of the neck and drawing blood from the vein on the forearm by jabbing a needle straight in), but current medical thinking is that the best way to clean a wound is with fresh water and maybe a little soap. Alcohol and hydrogen peroxide hasn't been found to be beneficial and it can slow healing due to tissue damage.

      Also, current medical best-practice is to keep wounds clean and moist, rather than allow them to dry out and form a scab.

      https://www.dailyrepublic.com/projects/the-other-side-of-50/common-myths-about-wound-healing-debunked/

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      • LloydAsher
        4 years ago

        This injury has been 2 weeks old. So the alcohol is just for disinfecting whatever grew on said maggots. The bandage is for assuming the wound did not need stitches.

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  • Tealights
    4 years ago

    Get real medical attention or risk an infection followed by septic shock.

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  • [Old Memory]
    4 years ago

    Now I got that korn song stuck in my head. But I’d rather die from the wound than have something crawling in my skin.

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    • LloydAsher
      4 years ago

      Even though your wound benefits from said maggots in the short term? I mean if theres no doctor during the time and you dont to get necrosis it's a fine thing to deal with.

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  • NoLifer
    4 years ago

    They eat the dead flesh so the rest of the injury doesn't become rotted. However you still need to stitch, bandage and disinfect the wound.

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  • curious-bunny
    4 years ago

    Bit of both, I would clear them out though if I was you

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  • jethro
    4 years ago

    Bad troll post.

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  • brutus
    4 years ago

    Disinfect the wound with betadine ASAP!!

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  • Boojum
    4 years ago

    Obvious troll (I hope), since nobody in a place where they have access to the Internet should need to ask a question with such an obvious answer.

    In a survival situation where there's no access to antibiotics and medical care, maggots can be used to clean wounds since they will eat only dead flesh and they are very precise in how they nibble. However, allowing any random passing fly to land on a wound to deposit eggs is risky, since it's impossible to know what sort of infectious bacteria might be introduced to the wound.

    The wikipedia article on maggot therapy has some interesting info on their history of this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot_therapy

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    • LloydAsher
      4 years ago

      Some people are stubborn because they pick up off facts from their parents. Using the knowlage is good but only when it's in a practical sense.

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