Can aloe vera treat or protect from sunburn.

ABSTRACT

Aloe vera gel continues to be an ingredient in a wide variety of topical products, including sunscreen and after-sun products, even though there has been little scientific evidence to support its use. Evidence does exist to support the use of Aloe vera as a therapeutic modality in the treatment of thermal burns and radiodermatitis. We investigated the efficacy of topic Aloe vera gel in the treatment and prevention of cutaneous erythema following ultraviolet B. Ten healthy Thai volunteers were irradiated on control-untreated, pre-and post-Aloe vera-treated areas with UVB doses ranging 25 to 300 mJ/cm2. The threshold doses of UVB which induced a well-defined border erythema (MED) of the three areas were determined and compared. There were no statistically significant differences in MEDs in pre-, post-Aloe vera treated areas compared with those in untreated control sites (p>0.468). Our results suggest that topically applied of Aloe vera gel both before and after UVB-irradiation dose not affect UVB erythema.