Healing Chronic Wounds Performed on Mouse Ears Using Silica (Si02) as a Homeopathic Remedy

Abstract

Homoeopathic medicine frequently uses potencies of silica, especially as a treatment for abscesses, discharging fistulas, chronic ulcers, discharging wounds and keloids and rejection of foreign bodies (Jouanny, 1985; Metzger, 1981). It is also known as a deep-acting constitutional remedy. However, one major advantage of experimenting with potencies of silica is the fact, that it can be applied indicatively without the need to individualize. This characteristic is not common in homeopathy, since individualization is one of the basic requirements of homeopathy. Thus, the property of silica for “anti-chronic inflammation” is exceptional and makes it possible to prescribe it in most cases that suit this definition. It is also worth nothing that unpotentized silica, has a use in conventional biomedical science, as a substance with inhibitory and cytotoxic activity on macrophages (Moseley et al.., 1988; Gennari et al.., 1987; Bowers et al., 1998; Souvannavong and Adams, 1990). These are the reasons why we have decided to investigate the effect of various dilutions of silica on wound healing. For this purpose we have developed a model of a chronic wound in experimental animals that would simulate the situations in which silica is used in homoeopathy and the results of the studies with this model are hereby reported.

Communication presented at the 7th GIRI Meeting, November 1993, Montpellier, France.