Pour Some Sugar On Me

Last weekend when I was cleaning out the bird feeder, I scraped some of the skin off the index finger of my dominant hand. I tried to keep a bandage on it so the cut would stay clean, but the bandage kept getting wet and falling off every time I washed my hands and when I worked in the kitchen.

After four days my finger wasn't getting any better. When I was cleaning up after lunch today, I hit the cut and it started bleeding again. I needed to try a new tactic, so today I employed an old folk remedy and used sugar on a cut.

According to this article, sugar is a safe treatment for wounds. Sugar contains natural antibiotics, and it speeds the healing of the skin tissue. It's also cheap and easy to use. I cleaned my finger with soap and water, smeared some triple antibiotic on it, and sprinkled a little sugar on top until the wound was completely covered. After I wrapped the area with a bandage, it stung for a few minutes, then the stinging stopped and my finger started feeling better. Later in the afternoon I got the bandage wet while washing my hands. I took it off and noticed my finger looked less red and puffy, so I went through the whole procedure again.

I got my hands wet again cooking dinner (are you starting to see a pattern?) and needed a dry bandage. Much to my surprise, the scrape on my finger had healed more in a few hours today than it had in the last four days! The deep red had been replaced by pink, and it didn't hurt at all. I repeated the cleaning and sugaring process once more; it will be interesting to see what it looks like in the morning. That is, if I can keep my hands dry until tomorrow.