Salve and Burdock: A Safe, Effective Amish Remedy for Treatment of Traumatic Wounds?
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Updated: Mar 3, 2026
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Published on: February 23, 2024
Mitchell D Flurry1, Kelsie L Herring, Logan W Carr
1Mitchell D. Flurry, MD, is Assistant Professor, Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics, Wichita, Kansas. Kelsie L. Herring, BA, Medical Student, graduates to MD in May 2017; Logan W. Carr, MD, is Resident Physician; Randy M. Hauck, MD, is Associate Professor of Surgery; and John D. Potochny, MD, is Associate Professor of Surgery, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Background:
Amish patients show a demonstrated preference for traditional, herbal remedies over modern medical interventions such as skin grafting. One such remedy is a mixture of Burn & Wound Ointment (B & W Ointment; Holistic Acres, LLC; Newcomerstown, Ohio) and steeped burdock leaves. Although both have demonstrated some antimicrobial and wound healing properties, burdock and/or the combination of B & W Ointment and burdock has never been studied to determine its purported ability to reduce pain, prevent infection, and accelerate wound healing.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review was performed on 6 Amish patients treated with salve and burdock leaves instead of skin grafting following complex traumatic wounds to determine whether the traditional treatment incurred any patient harm.
Results:
The time of wound epithelialization and healing complications were noted, among other data points. Time to full epithelialization ranged from 1 to 7 months. Time to full wound healing was proportional to wound size.
Conclusions:
Although the treatment presented here is unconventional, it did not cause harm to the patients studied.
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