Chitosan and Aloe Vera: Two Gifts of Nature

The present review discusses the preparation of chitosan, chemical composition, and constituents of aloe vera, their physiochemical characteristics, and their applications, particularly their wound healing properties. Since chitosan and aloe vera are two natural polymers having the required properties for wound healing these have been used since antiquity as wound healers and are since then considered as the nature's two gifts to mankind. Chitosan based wound dressings have been prepared and at the same time some reports about the preparation of aloe vera based wound dressings are there, however till now no wound dressing based on both chitosan and aloe vera together has been reported and therefore, an effort has been made to review the literature, dealing with properties, processing, and applications, with an emphasis on wound healing.