Believe it or not, ordinary tap water just may be a miracle cure for diabetes patients who suffer from diabetic foot wounds. And it may save thousands of diabetics from having to have limb amputations.
Around four million people are expected to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the next ten years, and due to poor circulation that often comes along with the condition, many of them will develop ulcers and open foot wounds that are extremely slow to heal or don't heal at all, which ultimately leads to limb amputation.
How Tap Water Can Help Diabetes Patients: Enter Aqualution
Researchers at NHS Lanarkshire in England are currently testing tap water as a possible cure for diabetic foot issues, which lead to over 5,000 amputations annually in the UK alone. The idea behind the trial is that when electricity is passed through clean tap water, it transforms the water into an inexpensive antiseptic that cleans out bacteria, dead tissue and debris that slow the healing process.
Developed by the UK-based company Aqualution, the revolutionary approach involves passing an electric current through a mixture of clean tap water and salt, which has the ability to turn the water into an acidic solution with antiseptic properties. The solution that both removes debris and kills bacteria can then be used along with antibiotics or in place of antibiotics as bacteria increasingly become resistant.
Initial Testing Shows Electrified Tap Water Could Change The Medical World
The trial for tap water as a possible diabetic ulcer healing component is currently taking place at Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire. 200 patients with foot wounds will either be treated with the solution or with a conventional healing gel. Doctors will monitor the results for three months to see if the Aqualution has the ability to cure diabetic foot wounds. An early test-run study has already produced “encouraging” results, the Daily Mail reports.
‘This is an interesting concept where something as simple and cheap as tap water could make such a difference to the world of wound healing,” says Stella Vig, a consultant vascular surgeon at Croydon University Hospital. “Electrified water may well change the way these bacteria behave… It will help reduce NHS costs if we can improve the wound healing rates and avoid the complications that occur secondary to the use of antibiotics.”