Another week, another absolutely bizarre sounding piece of medical advice on HBO Max‘s The Pitt. This time around, and spoilers past this point for The Pitt Season 2, Episode 3, it’s all about putting honey on burns.
In the episode, new nurse Emma (Laëtitia Hollard) is tending to an older woman named Yana Kovalenko (Irina Dubova) who burned herself while cooking. It becomes clear that she bandaged the burn herself with part of a window curtain, which is “cleaner than tablecloth,” according to her, and she prefers to wait for a doctor — versus letting the nurse do anything.
She burned herself dropping a “full samovar,” aka a (usually) Russian hot water boiler used for coffee or tea, that she dropped on the floor when she was scared by the kids in her neighborhood setting off fireworks. There’s more to why she was terrified by the fireworks, particularly connecting with the Tree of Life Massacre from 2018. But for the purposes of this particular article we’ll just note that after Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) enters to help out, he pulls back her makeshift bandage and sees she put honey on the burn.
“I’m sorry, did you say honey?” asks Emma, to which Yana shoots back, “You think honey’s funny? Works like a charm. My father kept bees. I know.”
“If the honey is medical grade, and the burns are not too bad, honey actually have some antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties,” Dr. Robby explains. “However, these burns are very deep in some places. They’re going to need debridement.”
Debridement means the dead tissue will need to be removed, and that’s pretty gross. But the big question here is whether Dr. Robby is right, and if so, can you start pouring Golden Blossom on your wounds right now?
Can You Use Honey On Burns? The Real Medical Advice Via The Pitt
In a 2007 study published on the National Library of Medicine, they delved into the long history of using honey on burns. While it’s not a widespread practice — they found it was only used in 5.5% of cases — it does stretch back to ancient times. And in fact, honey has been prescribed for a variety of ailments, ranging from diarrhea and ulcers to simply taking honey with lemon and hot water every day for “health.”
Furthermore, cases from 1933, 1937 and beyond have shown that as Dr. Robby notes, honey has been more effective than other treatments when it comes to topical burns. Use of honey dressings “resulted in an effective control of infection that is much better than that achieved with current standard treatment, silver sulphadiazine, and other substances.” However, as Dr. Robby also notes, when it comes to more serious burns, honey is not going to solve the problem the same way removing the dead and damaged skin and dressing the wound properly will do.
So where does that leave you, the regular guy who has some honey around the house? First of all, while honey can be helpful, it’s generally believed it needs to be sterilized first using gamma irradiation, something you likely can’t do unless you’re The Incredible Hulk. Some clinicians disagree, though, and think honey is fine no matter what.
If you do have a minor burn, here’s what they recommend per the link above:
In minor burns, it is recommended to pour tap water immediately on burns, as this reduces the temperature. Afterwards, honey can be applied. Depending on the area, 15-30 ml of honey can be applied directly onto the burn wound or soaked in gauze before application.
Again, I just want to emphasize, if you have a serious burn it is probably best to see a doctor versus pouring honey on it and covering it with a piece of your window curtain. But if you have a minor burn that is not oozing, run it under some tap water… And then you can put a little honey on it. Worst case, it doesn’t do anything. Best case? You taste delicious.
The Pitt Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of The Pitt premiere Thursdays on HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET. While the full episode release schedule has yet to be officially announced, the season will run 15 episodes, and we currently expect it to run straight through without breaks, with one episode premiering per week.
We also expect that it will follow the same real-time format hour by hour as Season 1. While the first nine episode “titles” are confirmed it’s always possible there could be a twist at the end of the season. So full caveat here that this may change, TBA by HBO Max.
Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in The Pitt Season 2 with premiere dates.
- Thursday, January 8, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 1 – “7:00 A.M.”
- Thursday, January 15, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 2 – “8:00 A.M.”
- Thursday, January 22, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 3 – “9:00 A.M.”
- Thursday, January 29, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 4 – “10:00 A.M.”
- Thursday, February 5, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 5 – “11:00 A.M.”
- Thursday, February 12, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 6 – “12:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, February 19, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 7 – “1:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, February 26, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 8 – “2:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, March 5, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 9 – “3:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, March 12, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 10 – “4:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, March 19, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 11 – “5:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, March 26, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 12 – “6:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, April 2, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 13 – “7:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, April 9, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 14 – “8:00 P.M.”
- Thursday, April 16, 2026: The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 15 – “9:00 P.M.” *Season Finale*
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