Aloe Vera

Aloe vera will heal a burn—TRUE

Aaron was sure this one would turn out to be a myth. So many of the home remedies or cures we hear about do not work when they are tested scientifically. He thought aloe vera would turn out to be another of those good-sounding but not-working remedies. But after carefully reviewing the medical literature, it does appear to be true, that aloe vera is good for burns.

There have been a number of excellent studies that have looked at how aloe vera works on burns. In one of these, published in Surgery Today in 2009, thirty patients with two second degree burns on their bodies had one burn treated with aloe vera and the other treated with silver sulfadiazine (a long accepted cream for burns). The rate of developing new skin cells and the time to complete healing were about three days faster for those burns treated with aloe vera. Aloe vera worked!

This confirmed the findings from earlier studies, like one published in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Patients with significant burns called partial thickness burns were treated with aloe vera or standard Vaseline gauze. Those who used the aloe vera saw their wounds heal six days faster.

In fact, there have been enough studies of burn-healing with aloe vera that a systematic review and meta-analysis has been published. In these types of studies, researchers compile all the studies that have been done to evaluate whether something does or does not work, and draw a conclusion from the combined data. By looking at the total evidence, the researchers concluded that aloe vera led to burns healing almost nine days faster on average.

Additionally, aloe vera doesn’t seem to have any significant side effects. Sure, it’s not the treatment of choice for very severe burns, or those requiring a hospitalization, but for most first and second degree burns it seems to work really well. Go ahead and use it!