Objective: Th ere have been a lot of topical and systemic agents to provide an ideal scar formation and decrease the periods of wound healing process by aff ecting the factors of healing (infl ammatory cells, thrombocytes, extracellular matrix etc.). Ankaferd is an extract used as a hemostatic agent which is prepared in certain ratios of fi ve herbal contents which are used in traditional Turkish medicine. In our study, we observed the eff ects of Ankaferd on wound healing.
Materials and Methods: So that, the wounds were created with 8 mm punch biopsy on the back of 36 rats which were seperated into 4 groups of 9 rats. No treatment was done in Group D which is the control group while Group A took topical Ankaferd treatment twice a day, Group B treated with silver sulfadiazine twice a day, and Group C put on base cream twice a day which did not include any active agent. Th e rats were followed for 15 days macroscopically on 0, 3, 7 ve 15th days by taking biopsies and the levels of hydroxyproline, epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) were analysed from the tissue.
Results: There were no signifi ciant diff erences by means of EGF and PDGF levels between the all groups. Th e only signifi ciantly lower growth factor was VEGF in the silver sulfadiazine group. Th e wound healing process was determined faster in silver sulfadiazine and Ankaferd groups. Th ere was no signifi ciant diff erence in hydroxyproline levels between these groups and the hydroxyproline levels were signifi ciantly higher in control group. At the end of our study, it was detected that Ankaferd accelerated the healing process similar to silver sulfadiazin, in comparison to control and base cream groups according to the macroscopic results.