Lisa Darmo, of Carolina Biological Supply in Burlington, says special leeches for medical use only are imported from England and shipped to hospitals across the country.
Darmo says, "We serve science educators from elementary grades to the university level. The leeches that we sell, the medical leeches, are raised in a laboratory with filtered, highly filtered, water under the cleanest possible conditions."
Leeches are used in microvascular surgery to re-attach body parts. As surgeons reconnect arteries, some stagnant blood builds up. Doctors attach the leeches to those areas.
Leeches used in medicine have a special natural blood thinner that helps the wound bleed more freely.
Says Dr. Scott Levin, a plastic surgeon at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., "Without blood exiting, without blood egressing, then the part that we reattach or transplant is in jeopardy of not surviving."
Medical maggots are used in cleaning hard-to-heal wounds.
The Food and Drug Administration allows the use of both, but may increase regulation. Suppliers would have to meet certain requirements, which could limit their use.
