Meat on a wound

[grimpixie]

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the old remedy of putting a piece of steak onto a black eye, and in this thread raw bacon/bacon fat was mentioned as a means of drawing a pimlple’s infection to the surface of the skin.

Neither of these seem terribly logical “cures” - does anyone know of a logical/scientific explanation for why they work?

Thanks
Grim

[Eats_Crayons]

@grimpixie

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the old remedy of putting a piece of steak onto a black eye, and in this thread raw bacon/bacon fat was mentioned as a means of drawing a pimlple’s infection to the surface of the skin.

Neither of these seem terribly logical “cures” - does anyone know of a logical/scientific explanation for why they work?

I think there may be a Straight Dope article about the steak-on-the-eye. IIRC, it’s mainly that a refrigerated steak is cold enough to bring the swelling down. It’s also more pliable than say an ice cube wraped in a towel and will follow the contours of your face better than a clunky ice cube. Think of it as a precursor to those blue, refrigerated gel backs that get put on boo-boos today.

Never heard of the bacon thing. WAG - the salt draws out the puss?

[grimpixie]

Doing a little research to answer my own question lead me here:

@Alice

Raw steaks that have traditionally been put on black eyes were done so because the meat is cold, not because it has any special healing properties. Ice wrapped in a washcloth or a baggie of frozen veggies are more suitable steak substitutes.

As for the bacon, I’m still searching…

Grim