The Effect of Aloe Vera Gel and Nitrofurazone on Dressing Related Pain of Superficial Burn Wounds

Burn injuries are a painful form of trauma.1 Patients of burn injuries experience severe pain on a daily basis, both immediately after the injury and during therapeutic procedures, such as dressing changes,debridement and physiotherapy.2 In addition, repetition of these painful procedures often creates anticipatory anxiety forpatients with burns.3 Anxiety induced by a bad acute pain experience risks poor compliance with rehabilitation therapies,increased pain perception and loss of belief in the burn team.3 Application of topical anti-bacterial agents and disinfectants was shown as the most widely used topical therapy in burn injuries with anti-microbial effects.4 Herbal medicines with less toxicity and as inexpensive therapies have been used in healing of burn injuries,5,6 but reports on pain control in burn patients is very few. Aloe vera (family: Liliaceae) has been used in traditional medicine for a long time. It is one of the most recognizableherbs in the world and the medicinal part is the succulentleaves. A topical skin gel provides wonderful healingsupport for the skin. Aloe vera contains many importantnutrients for the body, including amino acids, B vitamins,and other nutrients that support general health. It also haspharmacological properties including antioxidant, wound healing, antibacterial, antifungal, and immunomodulatingeffects.7 Thirty patients were selected non-randomly among the outpatients referring to Burn Section of Kerman Shafa Hospital, Kerman, Iran; but symmetric organs were selected with random assignment method. The inclusion criteria included outpatients with the second degree burn below 20% without infection in two symmetric organs which should be dressed with Nitrofurazone ointment, wound should not be contaminated with the contaminants and they should not be affiliated with metabolic diseases such as cancer, AIDS, allergy and dermal diseases. They should tend to participate in the research and be able to respond to the questions. Informed consent letters were provided from all patients. Each patient randomly selected a treatment. It is necessary to note that these areas were similar in two sides of the body and had equal burn degree. Wounds were washed every day with normal 0.9% saline and 2% nitrofurazone ointment. In the intervention area, Aloe vera gel was used after washing the wound with normal saline. Dressings were changed every day. The burn areas were assessed in terms of daily infection and the wound 1. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran university of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran