That’s 3-in-1 oil she’s squeezing into the wound. Keeps it lubricated.I will never stop being surprised at just how useful that stuff is.
Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) was first introduced in the US in 1931 and was routinely used there until mid-1940s in over 300 hospitals. With the advent of antibacterials, maggot therapy became rare until the early 1990s, when it was re-introduced first in the US, and later in Israel, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Thailand. Sterile maggots of the green bottle fly, Lucilia (Phaenicia) sericata, are used for MDT. Up to 1000 maggots are introduced in the wound and left for 1 to 3 days. MDT could be used for any kind of purulent, sloughy wound on the skin, independent of the underlying diseases or the location on the body for ambulatory as well as for hospitalized patients. One of the major advantages of MDT is that the maggots separate the necrotic tissue from the living tissue, making a surgical debridement easier. In 80 to 95% of the cases, a complete or significant debridement of the wound is achieved. As therapy progresses, new layers of healthy tissue are formed over the wounds. The offensive odor emanating from the necrotic tissue and the intense pain accompanying the wound decrease significantly.posted by The White Hat at 8:08 PM on March 2, 2011 [6 favorites]
6. So, what about the lesion that started it all?posted by maudlin at 8:20 AM on March 10, 2011
By which you mean, the lesion that provoked the biopsy that infected me with necrotising fasciitis in the first place. We’re not quite sure. The biopsy report came back as “necrotizing vasculitis” (no relation), which is a technical way of saying Your blood vessels are inflamed and we don’t really know why. Underlying causes range from drug allergy to cancer. The first batch of blood tests were either lost or inconclusive. Just yesterday a specialist siphoned about half my blood volume into a dozen little tubes and told me to pee in a cup. We’re pretty sure the underlying cause isn’t an allergy, or rheumatoid arthritis, or Crohn’s disease. The specialist says she is “reassured” by the fact that the lesions have not resurfaced, but I’m still waiting for a definitive diagnosis. The investigation, as they say, is ongoing.
But I’d like to take this opportunity to clarify something that seems to be a source of widespread confusion. Whatever those lesion were — and despite the fact that the label hanging off of them contains the word “necrotizing” — they were not the source of the necrotising fasciitis. NF kills fast, spreading at up to 5cm/hour and frequently killing within a day. I was complaining to you guys about these lesions back in January. If I’d had NF that far back, the cats would have eaten my carcass down to the bones months ago.
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posted by dersins at 5:24 PM on March 2, 2011 [2 favorites]