Although it is true that maggots have been around since ancient times, maggot therapy is NOT an ancient practice. Most maggots are not selective; they consume dead tissue because they are opportunistic, but they also digest live tissue, which is very painful and destructive. There is a difference between noticing that wild maggots have removed the dead tissue from a wound and purposefully subjecting a patient to the pain and risks that are inherent in the use of wild maggots for debridement. The latter has never been documented as common practice.

Special breeds of maggots are more selective than are wild maggots. However, they are not more selective than is autolytic debridement. Most wound clinicians are so fearful of maceration that they do not keep wounds moist enough to permit the body's natural debriders - the white blood cells and enzymes - to freely migrate over the wound base. In order to provide real information, this study should include keeping the wound very moist without maggots so that the patients' bacteria-destroying white blood cells can serve as a comparator.