Symptom → Plant Sources
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) as a tool for helping with Wounds
Vulnerary for minor wounds, bruises and insect bites
2 sources supporting Witch Hazel for Wounds. Includes scientific publications, books, monographs and traditional-use references.
Mechanistic basis
This use is associated with the plant's astringent, vulnerary (wound healing) actions. Further evidence for that pharmacology:
Hamamelis virginiana L. (witch hazel) is a traditionally used medicinal plant, well-known for its dermatological applications. The plant's bark and leaves contain a rich array of bioactive compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, proanthocyanidins, and tannins, many of which exhibit antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties. These activities have been verified by numerous in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as limited clinical trials. The H. virginiana extracts have demonstrated effectiveness against bacteria, fungi, and some viruses. Moreover, the extracts exert anti-inflammatory effects by modulating cytokine expression and NF-κB signaling, improve skin regeneration, and protect against UV-induced damage and pollution. This review highlights H. virginiana as a complex botanical resource to be used in dermatology and cosmetology and shows that current research offers encouraging results for its future therapeutic use, especially in skin treatment.
Hamamelitannin from Hamamelis virginiana dose-dependently inhibited TNF-induced endothelial cell death, an activity that may explain the antihaemorrhagic and protective traditional uses of witch hazel.
Polymeric proanthocyanidins composed of epicatechin and epigallocatechin units were isolated from the bark of Hamamelis virginiana, characterising the astringent tannin constituents of witch hazel.
Proanthocyanidins were isolated and hamamelitannin quantified in the leaf, bark and stem extracts of Hamamelis virginiana, with the bark far richer in hamamelitannin, characterising the astringent tannins of witch hazel.
In a crossover trial, human metabolites of orally administered Hamamelis virginiana extract activated genes involved in skin-repair processes in UV-A-irradiated dermal fibroblasts, supporting a vulnerary skin-protective use of witch hazel.