Natural products and/or isolated compounds on wound healing

Abstract

The effective treatment of wounds remains a major global health challenge. Failure to heal or elongation of the wound healing process results in increased financial and social stress being placed on health institutions, care-givers, patients, and their families. The occurrence of various forms of wounds such as chronic and acute wounds, pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, and diabetic ulcers has increased over the years in most countries, especially developed countries where life expectancy has been increasing over timeand is accompanied by geriatric diseases. Acute and chronic, non healing wounds impose heavy financial and quality of life burdens on patients. Chronic wounds are normally characterized by intense pain, infection, loss of function, and loss of mobility and may lead to amputations and in some cases even death. With an increase in the prevalence of wounds and the high cost of orthodox medicines, most patients, especially those in developing countries, resort to herbal preparations or remedies which are believed to be readily available and cheap for the treatment thereof. The urgent need for the identification of effective, safe, and cost efficient wound healing promoters which can be introduced into clinical practice is unequivocal. This has driven an increase in the search for potent, cost effective wound healing agents from natural products including medicinal plants.