A Comparative Study on the Impacts of the Aloe Vera Gel and the Silver Sulfadiazine Cream 1% on Healing, Itching, and Pain of Burn Wounds: Clinical Trial

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Although Aloe Vera plant has been using for the healing process of burn wounds for ages, few studies were conducted towards Aloe Vera and its healing effects on burn wounds. Therefore, this study aims to present the impact of the Aloe Vera Gel on healing, itching, and pain of the burned patients. Materials and Methods: This study was a single-blind randomized clinical trial which was conducted at Sina Hospital, Tabriz, Iran. Thirty-four patients with sixty-eight superficial second and first degree burn wounds on symmetrical organs were selected and each organ was placed in two different “control” and “experimental” groups through a simple random sampling technique. For the experimental group, the Aloe Vera Gel and for the control group, the Silver Sulfadiazine Cream 1%, as the routine treatment, were used. Afterwards, precise evaluation and comparison were made on the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh and fourteenth day by using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and itching of the patients and also using Bats Jenson tools for wound healing. Results: The wound healed up completely within two weeks for both experimental (Aloe Vera) and control (Silver Sulfadiazine) groups. But the healing process for the experimental group was faster. Wound pain in the experimental group was lesser than the control group throughout the whole measurement time period and in the end, on 14th day, the pain was equal for both groups and reached to number zero which means complete pain relief. The peak of wound itching for both control and experimental groups was on 7th day. Wound itching had significantly reduced half an hour after dressing with Aloe Vera in comparison with Silver. It’s worth mentioning that wound itching had had a decreasing trend with an Aloe Vera dressing. Conclusion: Regarding the impact of the Aloe Vera Gel on healing and relieving the wound pain and also on wound itching of patients having first and second degree burn wounds, it would be much better dressing replacement for the Silver Sulfadiazine Cream 1%.