From Andrew- Is Aloe Vera great for your skin? Aloe VeraWell Andrew, that’s a really good question, even so the answer is determined by who you ask. There are several naturopathic healers who recommend its use to treat several conditions which range from sunburns, psoriasis, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol levels, to your cure for striae. It can be seen in literally hundreds of skin products which can be widely available, usually available as lotions and sunblocks. The ancient Egyptians were using Aloe Vera around 4,000 BC where that it was known as the “plant of immortality”. Medical doctors have a different opinion about the matter. If you're to ask them about ways to use Aloe, the response would most likely be, “there isn’t enough scientific evidence to demonstrate it’s a fair treatment for anything”. Given the bigger number of products available and anecdotal evidence seemingly supporting its use, I’m one medical expert that finds it problematical to argue Aloe doesn’t just work at all, but let’s think about the evidence. There are two substances the Aloe Vera plant produces that happen to be used as medicines- gel and latex. The gel will be the clear, jelly-like stuff located in the center on the plant’s leaves. Surrounding the gel, under the plant’s skin, is often a yellow material referred to as latex. There are some medicines which can be made from your entire crushed leaf which contain both gel and latex, but generally latex is taken orally along with the gel is usually used topically. Although some claim taking gel orally has benefits.