Aloe vera gel application for faster healing of split-thickness skin graft donor site on Wistar rats

Abstract

Background: Split Thickness Skin Graft (STSG) donor site healing still becomes concerned since it caused massive pain, discomfort, irritation, soaked, and thick dressing. None of the dressing can be said as the ideal and universal way to treat donor site. Aloe vera has been used as wound treatment, but the mechanism is not well understood yet. This study aims to determine the application of aloe vera gel to heal split-thickness skin graft donor sites on Wistar rats.Methods: An experimental study was conducted among 32 male Wistar rats, 8-12 weeks age with STSG donor area divided into 4 control groups that treated with paraffin gauze and 4 groups that treated with Aloe vera gel. All wounds are closed by transparent dressing and being changed every 2 days. Healing time was count when all wound areas had epithelialization. In the microscopic evaluation, fibroblast, angiogenesis, and collagen deposition were counted on Day 5, 14, and 21. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 17 for Windows.Results: Topical Aloe vera gel for STSG donor site treatment proved initiating significant faster epithelialization time (p=0.018), increasing the amount of fibroblast (p=0.006), and collagen deposition (p=0.001) on Day 5. However, topical aloe vera did not significantly affect the amount of angiogenesis in the early phase (Day 5) of wound healing (p=0.114) but proved to increase significantly in Day 21 (p=0.027). Conclusion: Topical Aloe vera gel proved to heal the STSG donor site faster than paraffin gauze. Aloe vera can be used as one of STSG donor site treatment as it induces faster wound healing.