However, researchers are looking into other potential benefits of applying leeches, too. Leech therapy is mainly authorized for reconstruction plastic surgery. Additionally, pregnant women and children cannot be given this therapy. People who have health conditions like haemophilia (a blood clotting disorder), anaemia or leukaemia should not undergo leech therapy. The process is usually painless (leech saliva is also said to have a mild anaesthetic effect), though some people may experience minor discomfort.Įach leech feeds for about 40 minutes, after which the leech falls off on its own. Where the leech feeds, it leaves a "Y" shaped surface wound. The leeches are simply applied to the affected area. Each adult leech can suck up to 15ml of blood in one sitting. Medical leeches have three jaws, each with about 100 "teeth". That said, most medical leeches today are sourced from Europe. There are different medical leeches, depending on which part of the world they’re sourced from. We also know that we need to watch out for side effects like bacterial infections. What is different now is that we know today that general bloodletting does not have therapeutic effects. Indeed bloodletting has been used in traditional medicine systems from India ( Ayurveda) to ancient Egypt. The main therapeutic effect of this is said to come from anticoagulants, anti-inflammatory enzymes and anti-elastase in leech saliva. Indeed, scientists are also looking into other health conditions where blood clots and poor circulation are a problem, and where leech therapy may help. For example, medical leeches, usually Hirudo medicinalis, can help in improving the prognosis in diabetic foot ulcer and avoiding amputation in select cases. It is done by a surgeon or doctor for very specific purposes. Leech therapy comprises the direct application of medical leeches to the area that needs treatment. Leech therapy for micro surgeries like ear reattachment.What is leech therapy and how is it done?.
Read on to know more about leech therapy. It should not replace or interfere with your allopathic medicines and therapies. It is an alternative (and inexpensive) method that can be useful in very specific scenarios and when done by a trained practitioner only.
That said, it is important to remember that leech therapy is not the first line of treatment in any disease or condition. The US Food and Drug Administration has given approval to leech therapy as “an adjunct to the graft tissue healing when problems of venous congestion may delay healing, or to overcome the problem of venous congestion by creating prolonged localized bleeding”.Įssentially, leeches may be used as a medical device to drain excess blood in a recently reattached finger/toe/ear/lip/nose, etc. Until this can change, applying medical leeches to the affected body part will of necessity remain the primary way to administer this therapy. But this process, too, has proven to be inefficient for commercial use so far. They have also tried to extract hirudin from leeches. Of late, researchers have tried to make synthetic hirudin-the naturally occurring peptide that gives leech saliva its anticoagulant properties-but this hasn’t been very effective. For this reason, some alternative healers have been using leeches for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Though more research needs to go into this, leech saliva is thought to have anti-inflammatory properties, too. Leech therapy is also emerging as an alternative treatment to prevent amputation of limbs in uncontrolled and advanced diabetes, the resolution of varicose veins (a painful swelling of the veins, usually in the legs), and Berger’s disease (a condition in which IgA immune cells collect in the kidneys). Particularly for medical purposes like microsurgeries (for example, finger reattachment surgery) where the surgeons want continued blood supply to tissues to prevent tissue death and promote wound healing. These qualities of leech saliva have piqued the interest of some people in the medical community. This anticoagulant prevents blood clots from forming and thins the blood to improve blood supply (and as an unintended consequence, blood circulation). To do this, they inject a natural anticoagulant called hirudin into their prey. Leeches suck on the blood of fish, animals and people to survive.
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