Evaluation of Wound-Healing Activity of an Aloe vera Gel Formulation in an Excision Wound Model

Abstract

Aloe vera leaf gel is among the most widely used botanical materials for skin care, and a steady stream of reports describes faster closure of excision wounds in rodents treated with gel formulations. This narrative review asks what that body of work can and cannot tell a reader. It draws on published literature on the composition of the gel, the biology of cutaneous repair, the excision wound model and the design and reporting of animal experiments, and it reports no new data and no local study. The gel contains polysaccharides, glycoproteins, phenolic compounds and minerals that could plausibly act on inflammation, moisture balance, fibroblast activity and oxidative stress, but most proposed mechanisms rest on in vitro work or on a few small animal reports. Human trials are few, small and mixed in their findings. Composition varies with plant part, processing and storage, and many animal reports omit the details needed to repeat them: the base used, the control group, how wounds were measured and who was blinded. Rodent wounds also close mainly by contraction, which limits translation to people. The review concludes that benefit is plausible but unproven for any particular formulation, and it sets out what a convincing excision wound study of an Aloe vera gel would need to report.