How Medihoney changed my weanling's leg for the better

This is the more technical story that goes along with my post about There being more to Kasino.  These posts illustrate what was happening to him while he was learning the many other things that he needed to learn to be a good baby.  If you want to know the emotional side of the story, please go read that post.  This post is mostly just to show you exactly what he went through and what I did to make him better.

No, his knee didn't end up scar-free.  But there is nothing left except a tiny bit of pink skin and some white hair.  It could have got into his joint, but it didn't.  It could have left one knee larger than the other, but it didn't.  He remarkably never, ever took one lame step.  Although I am disappointed with the scar (see the last few pictures' descriptions, below), I am truly thankful it's nothing more.

The second purpose of this post is to assist anyone else trying to minimize lower leg scarring on a horse.  There is no doubt that the Medihoney decreased healing time and minimized the scarring.  I recommend it to anyone who is fighting a similar battle with a leg wound.  In fact, I just donated the rest of Kasino's Medihoney to Hope, a rescue weanling filly at Alder Hill Farm, who has some huge leg wounds on her knees, in hopes that they will benefit her as they did my weanling.

Pictorial timeline of weanling wound progression

	7/6/11-The wound started much smaller, with a backwards L cut coming off the top right corner, at about 1 o'clock. I did not take any previous pictures, though. I admit at first I did not think it was that bad. This is about 12 hours later though, and the "L" had burst open and created a wound that was about 150% of the original size. By the next day, the "L" had created an island of dead tissue in the middle of the wound.
	7/12/11-For the last six days, I had been cleaning the wound with chlorhexidine and applying triple antibiotic ointment on a non-stick pad and a pressure wrap. Bandage change was happening nearly every day. I had also lifted the dead tissue with hemostats and cut it away as far down as I could to freshen the tissue.
	7/14/11-The same treatment of cleaning with chlorhexidine, applying triple antibiotic ointment on a non-stick pad, and using a pressure wrap was still being repeated. Finally on this day, a small amount of pink skin regrowth was noted. Fresh blood was a good sign as well, since there had been little of that previously.
	7/19/11-The same treatment as above is still being repeated. I am bandaging every other day sometimes if the wrap stays on. At this point, I believe that keeping the pressure on the wound if it's clean and moist is as good as anything. I am judging by the pink regrowth that it is going to be about 3 months total time to get this closed up. The vet has no better timeline to offer, so those are my expectations at this point. I buy 30 rolls of vet wrap, a case of undercast padding, and every tube of triple antibiotic at Wal Mart.
	7/26/11-Two days previous to this, my weanling took his bandage off himself for the first time. While he lounged around in his dirty stall, I am sure infection set in. His bandage was malodorous for the first time and he was very painful. Oral antibiotics twice daily were started.
	7/27/11-The smell is no longer present in the bandage. The wound seems much happier with only one day of oral antibiotics. Note the developing pressure sore on the back of his knee from the pressure bandage.
	8/2/11-This is when I received the Medihoney. On 07/28 and 07/29, a Medihoney impregnated alginate dressing with absorbent rear pad was applied under the pressure wrap. At 24 hours old, each dressing was completely absorbed (non-present at unwrap) and the wound was extremely red, fresh looking, and bled profusely. He was painful. I almost didn't use it anymore, but in retrospect, that's how it's supposed to look. The Medihoney brought fresh healing blood to the wound (as well as some other things that can be read about on their site if you're interested). The 08/02 photo shows the wound after two more dressing changes with regular triple antiobiotic ointment as before.
	8/4/11-On the previous day, I'd applied a piece of square Medihoney dressing to the wound. When I removed the bandage on this day, the Medihoney had shifted up and to the left (as viewed in this picture) and only approximately 1/4 of it was on the wound. The top 1/4 of the wound was definitely fresher and freer of exudate as in comparison with the rest of the wound. Also not the size of the wound in comparison with previous days (compare to the chestnut). In one week of Medihoney treatments, I'd had more progress than almost the whole month before. I was also pleased to see some hair starting to come in too on already healed areas.
	8/6/11-My weanling was being turned out at night (summer of 2011, remember the heat?) During the night, it had started to rain and he was found in the morning with a dripping bandage around his fetlock with an open wound. Proud flesh was present at a height of about 3mm above the surrounding skin and his knee was swollen. Granulex was applied and then triple antibiotic under a pressure wrap was added.
	8/8/11-On 08/07, I had rewrapped his knee with the Medihoney dressing. Today the wound was small, clean and relatively dry upon removal of the bandage. The wound was cleaned with chlorhexidine and a new Medihoney dressing was applied. The growing sore on the back of the knee was given a triple antibiotic absorbent sponge and a pressure wrap was applied.
	8/11/11-The picture is of the wound prior to cleaning, immediately after bandage removal. It's size is rapidly diminishing. No Medihoney has been used in two days because the wound has been dry to the point that the Medihoney impregnated pad no longer seems to gel on the wound as it should. It is believed that the Medihoney ointment would be better suited to the wound at this point than the pre-impregnated dressings. Triple antibiotic was used two days prior to this day and a chlorihexidine gauze pad was used this day. An absorbent sponge with triple antibiotic has continued to be used on the developing rear sore, which is now slightly visible in this picture. The wounds were cleaned with peroxide and triple antibiotic ointment on sponge pads were reapplied with a pressure wrap.
	8/13/11-Exudate forms quickly without the Medihoney. I have ordered and am waiting on Medihoney ointment in a tube. Sadly, the pressure sore is growing nearly as quickly as the wound is shrinking.
	8/19/11-In this picture, the wound has been unbandaged for a few days due to the developing pressure sore on the back of the leg. This is really frustrating, as I am quite sure the original wound would have closed up nicely with mostly red hair coming back in if I had continued to wrap it.
	8/23/11-The wound has not really been pressure wrapped in over a week in an effort to minimize the developing rear sore. Regular Medihoney ointment has been applied under a non-pressure type "BandAid" about every other day for the last six days in an effort to "split the middle" between the opposite needs of the two wounds. The rear sore has become smaller and is mostly just pink, fresh skin at this point with only a small open area about 4mm in diameter. The main wound is hardly anything to be concerned with at this point but it seems obvious that the last several days' of healing (without a pressure wrap) are creating a scar with more pink skin instead of colored skin.
	8/29/11-The wound is no longer being wrapped. Triple antibiotic or Medihoney ointment has been applied almost daily since the last photo. Unfortunately it appears that the sore will scar everywhere that has healed since the wrapping stopped. This was expected as seems to be the norm with scabbed healing. The rear sore also has pink skin with missing hair at this point.
	9/13/11-Both wounds are healed by this time, but it's apparent there will be a nice scar left over. I am very thankful to have discovered and bought the Medihoney, but at the same time disappointed that I was unable to continue the treatment as I had planned because of the sore on the back of the knee.
	10/9/11-I am a bit disappointed that I had to discontinue the wrapping, as it does appear there will be a hairless scar in the spot where I let the scab heal itself. But overall, the sore is going to at least have white hair over most of the damaged area, with some of the edges getting sorrel hair too. I have had the colt two places since he has been healed and everyone who has commented thought the white was part of his markings. Overall I am very pleased and by both my and the vet's estimations, the Medihoney saved weeks of wrapping.

Medihoney is made by Derma Sciences.  You can read more about it on their website.  To buy Medihoney, I simply Googled it and searched for the best price.

  Medihoney in a weanling wound

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