In 1935, a woman walked into a clinic with severe radiation burns on her forehead.
The treatment she received—and the results that followed—would bridge 6,000 years of traditional medicine with modern clinical research. What happened next launched the scientific validation of aloe vera that continues to this day.
The Case That Changed Everything
C.E. Collins and his colleague published their findings in the American Journal of Roentgenology in 1935, documenting what they called "roentgen dermatitis"—skin damage caused by X-ray exposure.
The patient presented with severe desquamation on her forehead from radiation treatments. Rather than using conventional therapies of the time, Collins applied fresh whole leaf of Aloe vera directly to the affected area.
The results were remarkable:
Within 24 hours, the itching and burning sensations subsided. Over the following weeks, the skin began regenerating. By five weeks, normal skin sensation was restored. Most significantly, after three months, the forehead pigmented normally when exposed to sunshine—matching the rest of her healthy skin. No scar formation occurred.
Collins wasn't just reporting folk remedy success. He was documenting clinical outcomes with the precision expected of medical literature. His observations included timeline of symptom relief, progression of healing, comparison to expected outcomes without treatment, and long-term follow-up on skin function.
This was ancient wisdom meeting modern methodology.
Why This Mattered for Medical Science
The Collins and Collins paper arrived at a pivotal moment in medical history.
By the 1930s, X-ray technology was widespread in medicine, but the skin damage it caused was poorly understood and difficult to treat. Radiation dermatitis ranged from mild redness to severe ulceration, and physicians had limited options for helping affected patients.
What Collins documented wasn't just that aloe "helped"—he documented specific, measurable improvements in a condition that was notoriously difficult to treat. The case provided the kind of clinical evidence that could move aloe vera from folk remedy to legitimate medical consideration.
Later that same year, Collins published an additional report on the use of an aloe vera ointment (Alvagel) as a therapeutic agent for roentgen and radium burns, expanding the evidence base for aloe's applications in radiation-induced skin damage.
The Research That Followed
Collins' work opened a floodgate of scientific inquiry.
In 1936, Wright published a paper on aloe vera for treating X-ray ulcers and telangiectasis. His conclusion: "From the cases reported it would seem that x-ray ulceration, even of several years' duration, will respond to the use of Aloe vera."
In 1953, a significant animal study was conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—an organization very interested in understanding radiation effects and their treatment. The study found that aloe vera treatment "was found to hasten both the degenerative and reparative phases of the lesion so that complete healing of an ulcer was accomplished within two months of treatment, while the untreated ulcerations were still not completely healed more than four months after irradiation."
This was no longer isolated observation. This was systematic research confirming what Collins had documented nearly two decades earlier.
Connecting Ancient Knowledge to Modern Science
What's remarkable about the Collins paper is how directly it connects to ancient observations.
The Papyrus Ebers, written around 1550 BC, documented aloe's use for burns and skin conditions. Dioscorides, writing in 70 AD, recorded aloe's ability to heal wounds and reduce inflammation. Alexander the Great reportedly used aloe to treat his soldiers' battle wounds.
Collins wasn't discovering something new—he was providing modern clinical documentation for something humans had known for millennia. The difference was methodology. Instead of relying on traditional knowledge passed down through generations, Collins published specific observations in a peer-reviewed journal that other physicians could evaluate, test, and build upon.
This is the pattern that continues today: researchers take traditional uses of aloe vera and subject them to modern scientific scrutiny. More often than not, the ancient observations hold up.
The Modern Research Era
Since Collins' 1935 publication, research on aloe vera for skin health has expanded dramatically.
A 2019 systematic review published in the Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences analyzed 23 clinical trials on aloe vera for wound healing. The researchers found that aloe vera has been successfully used to prevent skin ulcers and treat burn wounds, postoperative wounds, and various dermatological conditions.
Research from Wakayama Medical University in Japan demonstrated that even low-dose aloe sterol supplementation significantly improved skin barrier function and hydration in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Participants showed reduced transepidermal water loss and increased collagen scores compared to the placebo group.
A study from Seoul National University found that dietary aloe vera supplementation improved facial wrinkles and elasticity in women over 45, with documented increases in type I procollagen gene expression—providing molecular evidence for the anti-aging benefits people had observed for centuries.
What This Means for Skincare Today
The Collins and Collins paper matters because it established a template: traditional knowledge, when tested with scientific rigor, often proves valid.
This is why, on our Washington State farm, we incorporate organic aloe barbadensis into every Artisan formula. Not because ancient Egyptians used it—though they did. Not because Dioscorides documented it—though he did. We use it because 90 years of modern clinical research, launched by Collins' 1935 case report, has validated what traditional medicine understood for millennia.
When your skin is stressed, reactive, or damaged, you're not looking for trendy ingredients with minimal research. You want compounds with evidence trails that stretch from ancient clay tablets through peer-reviewed journals. Aloe vera has that trail.
The woman who walked into Collins' clinic with radiation burns probably didn't know she was participating in medical history. She just knew her skin hurt and she wanted help. Eighty-eight years later, the treatment that helped her has been validated by research across multiple continents and disciplines.
That's the kind of ingredient foundation we believe in.
References
Collins CE, Collins C. Roentgen dermatitis treated with fresh whole leaf of Aloe vera. American Journal of Roentgenology. 1935;33:396-397.
Collins CE. Alvagel as a therapeutic agent for roentgen and radium burns. American Journal of Roentgenology. 1935;33:396-397.
Wright CS. Aloe vera in the treatment of roentgen ulcers and telangiectasis. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1936;106(16):1363-1364.
Lushbaugh CC, Hale DB. Experimental acute radiodermatitis following beta irradiation. V. Histopathological study of the mode of action of therapy with Aloe vera. Cancer. 1953;6(4):690-698. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(195307)6:4<690::AID-CNCR2820060407>3.0.CO;2-B
Hekmatpou D, Mehrabi F, Rahzani K, Aminiyan A. The effect of Aloe vera clinical trials on prevention and healing of skin wound: A systematic review. Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2019;44(1):1-9. doi:10.30476/ijms.2019.40612
Kaminaka C, Yamamoto Y, Sakata M, et al. Effects of low-dose Aloe sterol supplementation on skin moisture, collagen score and objective or subjective symptoms: 12-week, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Dermatology. 2020;47(9):998-1006. doi:10.1111/1346-8138.15428
Cho S, Lee S, Lee MJ, et al. Dietary Aloe vera supplementation improves facial wrinkles and elasticity and it increases the type I procollagen gene expression in human skin in vivo. Annals of Dermatology. 2009;21(1):6-11. doi:10.5021/ad.2009.21.1.6
Papyrus Ebers. Egyptian Medical Papyrus. Circa 1550 BC. Translated by Bryan CP. London: Geoffrey Bles; 1930.
Dioscorides. De Materia Medica. Circa 70 AD.
