A time tested human medicine technique that has proven valuable in healing diabetic pressure sores may offer a new way to tackle a number of wound concerns with horses, including devastating hoof injuries.

Dave Jolly told attendees at the recent Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium that 10 years of studies demonstrate that growth factor technology is highly successful in treating pressure sores. He says the diabetic wounds in these trials were treated with 35 different growth factors that are known to stimulate growth of a wide variety of cell lines.

Natural Healing Of Hoof Cracks

Jolly, an equine veterinarian in Hot Springs, Ark., and the clinical director of research at BeluMed X in Little Rock, Ark., says the idea also helps heal equine wounds, including numerous hoof injuries. The firm markets Lacerum, a growth-factor technology product that is new to the equine industry.

As one example of how the product can be used to treat hoof wounds, Jolly cites the case of a 2-year-old Paint filly with a caudal laceration that affected one-third of a hind hoof. Deep enough to go through sensitive laminae, the laceration extended from 1 inch above the lateral cartilage through the coronet band and down to the ground.

“On Day 7 following a Lacerum treatment, I observed granulation tissue at the lateral cartilage level in this filly,” says Jolly. “On Day 19, I didn’t recognize this band of tissue at the coronet band and instead realized that this tissue did not grow together at the top of…