When should larval therapy be used?

Larval therapy can be used for any infection, but is currently used for problematic wounds that are often poorly responsive to conventional treatment. Increased awareness may facilitate its use in conjunction with established treatments, hopefully in the setting of prospective clinical trials.

What is larval debridement?

Larval debridement therapy (LDT), also known as ‘maggot therapy’ or ‘biosurgery’, involves the use of larvae of the greenbottle fly, which are introduced to a wound to remove necrotic, sloughy and/or infected tissue. This Quick Guide provides information on the benefits of LDT and how these can be applied in practice.

How do you apply larval therapy?

Maggots that are applied directly onto the wound (‘Free range’) are poured onto your wound. A net dressing is secured over them and a piece of gauze moistened with sodium chloride (saline) and an absorbent dressing pad are applied over this. A different dressing is also applied to the surrounding skin to protect it.

Is larval therapy recommended?

The use of larval therapy has proved to be very effective in the treatment of infected wounds with dead tissue, which needs to be removed. It should be considered an essential part of any nurse’s toolkit for treating all types of wounds due to its speedy effectiveness.

Does larval therapy have complications?

Larval therapy is relatively safer and has lower side effects. The most important effectiveness of using larval therapy is its relative acceleration of the wound healing time. The cost of using this method is low and is more cost-effective compared to other wound healing methods.

How is larval therapy used for wound healing?

Maggot therapy (also known as larval therapy) is a type of biotherapy involving the introduction of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into non-healing skin and soft-tissue wounds of a human or other animal for the purpose of cleaning out the necrotic (dead) tissue within a wound, (debridement) and disinfection.

How effective is maggot therapy?

The maggot therapy facilitated faster and more effective debridement of non-viable tissue. It enabled faster development of granulation tissue and increased reduction in the wound surface area compared to hydrogel dressings. Maggot therapy had no effect on disinfection or complete healing rate for the wound.

How long does maggot therapy take?

With both application methods, it is impossible to predict how long a course of treatment will take. Sometimes a wound is completely cleansed by a single application of larvae but other wounds may require two or more treatments to achieve the desired effect.

What is one negative side effect of maggot debridement therapy?

The only side effect of maggot therapy is the occasional patient may experience irritation or itching at the wound site. The movement of the larvae within the wound may be a cause for this [40].

Is maggot therapy painful?

The most common side effect to maggot therapy is pain at the application site. Patients may actually feel a “nipping” or “picking” sensation that can be painful. This discomfort may be severe enough to require oral analgesics or, in some cases, the patient may request early termination of the treatment.

Can you feel maggot therapy?

This is nothing to worry about, it is just due to the activity of the maggots and should disappear when the dressing is changed. Most people are unaware of the maggots presence, although a small number of patients claim that they can feel the larvae moving but only describe this as a tickling sensation.