The use of honey and curcumin for episiotomy pain relief and wound healing: A three-group double-blind randomized clinical trial

Episiotomy is the most common surgical procedure in obstetrics. It may be associated with wound infection and delayed wound healing. This study aimed to compare the effects of honey and curcumin on episiotomy pain and wound healing. This double-blind three-group randomized controlled trial was done on 120 women admitted for vaginal delivery to Shahid Yahyanejad hospital, Babol, Iran. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups of 40 subjects and were taught to apply honey, curcumin, or placebo creams on their own episiotomy wound twice daily for 10 successive days after birth. Pain and wound healing were assessed 2 h, 5 days, and 10 days after birth via a visual analog scale and the Redness, Edema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, and Approximation scale. The primary outcomes of the study were episiotomy wound healing and pain intensity. The Chi-square test as well as the one-way analysis of variance and the repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted for data analysis. The study was completed with 30 women in each of the honey and the curcumin groups and 29 in the placebo group. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups respecting the variations of pain intensity and wound healing mean scores across the three measurement time points. However, based on the complete pain relief on the 10th day and compared with the placebo group, number-to-treat values in the curcumin and the honey groups were around 6 and 5, respectively. Moreover, compared with the placebo group, number-needed-to-treat values for complete wound healing on the 10th day in the curcumin and the honey groups were 6 and 8, respectively. Curcumin and honey creams have almost the same effects on episiotomy wound healing and pain intensity.