Honey as a Wound Care Modality in Treating Deep Neck Space Abscesses: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Deep neck abscesses are a disease in the field of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery that causes significant morbidity, death, and expenditures. Treatment length, whether inpatient or outpatient, is also prolonged. Deep neck abscesses are managed with incision and drainage, abscess exploration, systemic broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment, comorbidity control, and postoperative wound care through recovery. Standard dressings for wound treatment have proven time-consuming and expensive. Honey is one type of dressing that has long been used in wound treatment for a number of body areas and disorders. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of honey as a potential substitute for standard dressings for deep neck abscesses. METHODS This is a single-blind randomized controlled trial. Randomization will be done through simple random sampling. The population and sample of the study include all patients with deep neck abscesses treated at Dr Sardjito General Hospital, which is equipped with board-certified otorhinolaryngologists. Patients with deep neck abscesses who were given ethical clearance and meet the inclusion criteria were recruited as study participants until the sample size was reached. There are 18 participants in each group. Participants in the intervention group received standard dressings in addition to honey dressings, whereas those in the control group received standard dressings alone. Proinflammatory cytokines and growth factors, wound size, Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tools scoring, and quantitative bacterial colony identification will be all evaluated and assessed. The gathered data will be documented and subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS This manuscript presents a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating honey as a wound care modality in patients with deep neck space abscesses. Ethical approval and partial funding for the study were obtained in May 2024. Recruitment and data collection commenced in June 2024 and were successfully completed as of June 2025. CONCLUSIONS We hypothesize that honey may serve as a safe, effective, and affordable alternative wound dressing for the management of deep neck abscesses, with potential benefits in both clinical and health care system outcomes. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06562257; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06562257. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/75475