This is how maggot therapy works:

Maggots are applied to the wound either directly (open dressing) or in sterile membrane bags called "biobags." First, the maggots sort out the digestive enzymes which liquefy the dead or unhealthy tissue. Then they suck this liquid out of the wound and digest it in their intestines.

 

 

The biobags must be changed every three to four days, when the maggots are satiated with the unhealthy tissue. The astonishing thing about medically applied maggots is that they only dissolve unhealthy tissues. The healthy tissues are not decomposed by the enzymes. Furthermore, this mystical secret of digestion speeds up the healing process.

 

What do maggots feel like on the skin?

When maggots are inserted in a membrane bag the therapy is pretty much painless. Many patients don't feel the maggots at all; others feel a little bit of tickling. Full-grown maggots crawling on the skin or edges of a wound can cause tickling or painful sensations. Some patients report pain after the first day or two of maggot therapy. This is probably the result of the maggots - now bigger and heavier - crawling over exposed nerves in the wound bed, or multiple maggots squeezing into small crevices to reach the infected and necrotic debri. Pain usually can be predicted to occur in patients with significant wound pain before maggot therapy. In some cases, when the wound pain is not adequately relieved by simple pain medication, then maggot therapy must be discontinued early in order to terminate the pain immediately.

Do maggots burrow into living tissue?

Medical grade maggots neither burrow under the skin nor attack healthy tissue. Furthermore, they cannot survive deep under the skin because they need air to breathe and there is no danger that they will stay within the wound and 'breed'.