Comparison of the Effects of Purslane and Alcea Ointment on Episiotomy Wound Pain and Healing: A Clinical Trial Study

Abstract

Introduction: Perineal pain can reduce the mother's quality of life and change the mother's attitude towards her baby. Delayed wound healing can lead to poor anatomical outcomes, increase the risk of infection, reduce breastfeeding success, and ultimately lead to serious complications and even death. The goal of the study was to investigate the effects of topical purslane and hollyhock on episiotomy wound. Methods: This is a three-group randomized controlled clinical trial conducted on 90 women. The samples were allocated by simple random sampling method (drawing lots) in three groups (purslane, hollyhock, placebo). After teaching people how to wash and dry the perineal area, the intervention was carried out using 2% purslane ointment and 2% hollyhock ointment in the experimental group, and mothers were asked to apply an FTU of the ointment on the stitched area once a day. A total of 2% vitamin A ointment was used in the relevant part of the placebo group. All three groups received the intervention at baseline, on days 5 and 10 after delivery. Pain intensity and wound healing were recorded at baseline, on days 5 and 10 after delivery. Data analysis was carried out using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests in SPSS ver. 16 and P-value<0.05 was considered as the significance level. Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.44±2.15 years. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of pain intensity (p=0.26) and wound healing 24 hours after the intervention (p=0.20), but there was a significant difference between them 5 days for pain intensity (p=0.001) and wound healing (p=0.38) and 10 days for pain intensity (p=0.001) and wound healing (p=0.003) after the intervention. The pain intensity was lower (p<0.001) and wound healing was better (p=0.003) in the purslane and hollyhock groups than the placebo group.  Conclusion: Purslane and hollyhock ointments are effective on pain intensity and wound healing and reduce the consumption of oral painkillers.

Keywords: purslane ointment, hollyhock ointment, episiotomy, pain, wound