Doctors at various hospitals in Kashmir have adapted traditional leech therapy for patients suffering from various ailments like surgical reattachments of fingers, toes, ears for its ability to prevent venous congestion.
Leech therapy is considered quite effective, as when blood-sucking leeches bite a person, their saliva that contains several bioactive substances, causes blood flow to increase to the damaged tissue and prevents clotting.
Once bitten, a person can bleed for hours, allowing oxygenated blood to enter the wound area until veins re-grow and regain circulation.
Hospitals in Kashmir are using the leech therapy on patients suffering from arthritis, gout, chronic vertigo and sinusitis.
"Sinusitis results in mucous collection that leads to various ailments like headache, cough and cold. In order to get rid of it, surgical methods are adopted to drain the exodus. But leech therapy is easier than draining because leeches have certain enzymes that help to liquify and dissolve the substances and also have anti-biotic, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory substances that relieve the person from sinusitis," said Dr Nasir Hakeem, program incharge of leech therapy.
The hospitals using leeches for treatment follow the traditional Unani system of medicine.
The application of medicinal leech 'Hirudo medicinalis' for clearing poison from body has been practiced for long. In fact they have been used in medicine for thousands of years and is believed to have been in fashion in Egypt around 2,500 years ago.
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