Background

• Maggot therapy uses live maggots for cleaning wounds that show little or no improvement after four weeks or wounds that do not heal in eight weeks. These types of wounds have a high risk of infection. Phaenicia sericata and Lucilia sericata are species used in maggot therapy.
• Maggots are fly larvae (the earliest stage of an insect), just as caterpillars are butterfly or moth larvae.
• Maggot therapy is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its use in diabetic ulcers (open skin wounds) and wounds after surgery. Maggots are usually placed on the wound with a specific dressing (covering) in order to prevent the maggots from escaping.
• Maggots have been used to promote wound healing, prevent wound infection, delay wound healing, and prevent bone destruction and other effects due to bacterial bone infection during surgery. They have been used to treat abscesses (collections of pus), bone diseases, burns, gangrene (tissue death), and skin diseases. Maggot therapy has also been studied in other conditions as well. Further studies are needed.

References

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