The use of maggots in head and neck necrotizing fasciitis

Historically maggots have been used to clean necrotic war wounds. With the ready availability of sterile maggots, they are being used increasingly in surgical practice. Although maggots have most frequently been employed in the management of necrotic wounds and ulcers involving the lower limb, we have identified a particularly useful application in the head and neck and describe a case in which maggots played a significant part in the successful treatment of a florid necrotizing cervical fasciitis in a patient, who was unfit for repeated surgical debridement.