Hi @nejex, welcome to Mayo Connect. We’re an online forum of members such as yourself who come together to help each other out through our shared experiences. We’re not medical professions so we can’t diagnose medical problems.

Ugh, cold sores are miserable. When you have an outbreak do you put anything on such as Abreva? That ointment helps to control the lesion from getting any larger along with keeping it from developing a hard scab. I’m wondering if that’s what has happened in this case after the scratch.

What type of aloe vera are you applying? Is it in an ointment? If you have any over the counter medication like Abreva, or even something like Vaseline or Carmex to keep it moist you might try one of those. You might even try applying an antibiotic cream such as you’d use on a scratch. If it doesn’t go away in a few more days or you see it getting worse then you might want to have it checked out at a clinic. Keeping it moist will reduce the chance of scarring.

Is it very sore when you touch it? Do you feel there’s any swelling under the dried area? Is it dry or do you think there is pus inside?