BURNS

BURNS

Carrie Holmes

(Aloe Vera Gel)

Our 2 year old daughter caught fire from an open gas
flame. The burns were extensive, covering 14% of her
body, mainly the inside of the legs, thighs and stomach.
She was taken by ambulance to the Hospital and then
sent to the Special Burn Unit. The treatment for full
thickness burns was to prick the large blisters which
had quickly formed, give her morphine, antibiotics
and put her on a saline drip. The skin was left exposed
and she was placed in an isolation room for several
days. After her burns were covered and bandaged, the
process of healing began. I was horrified to see the
amount of drugs which were required to sedate her
and keep her free from infection and the blood packs
which she required each time a new skin graft was
performed, 8 all together. The Doctors would not let
us apply anything topically to aid the healing process.
Someone suggested Aloe Vera Gel, something she
could drink rather than apply. We got some and
began to add the gel to her drinks, 2-3 times a day.
We then had a period of 6 weeks where the burn
sites were dressed and bandaged, the outer bandages
being changed every couple of days. She continued
drinking the Aloe Vera Gel to drink. We were told
that our daughter would probably need to be sedated
to make removal of the complete dressings feasible.
The burns would be very sore, sticky and extremely
painful. The innermost dressing would have adhered
to the sticky educate and be very difficult to remove.
We prepared ourselves for the worst. The outer
bandages were removed and the inner bandages
slipped down her legs revealing dry, pink smooth
scar tissue. There was very little pain. The Doctor
was called in to have a look, followed by Assistants.
No one could believe that my daughter’s third degree
burns followed by numerous skin grafts could have
healed so quickly. “How have you done this?” we
were asked incredulously. “Aloe Vera Gel!” I said.
The looks that passed between the nurses, Doctor and
assistants spoke volumes. “We have been giving her
2-3 fl ozs every day. Now the bandages are off, can
we put it on her skin too?” Normally at this stage the
burn site would be redressed and re-bandaged for a
further look in 2 week’s time, but we were able to
leave the site uncovered and start topical application
immediately. That was 5 years ago, we still apply
Aloe Vera Gel daily. My daughter is healed and fine.