Rashi says that one of the meanings of Aharon's prayer regarding Miriam ("Let her not be like the dead, which comes out of his mother's womb with half his flesh consumed!"; Bamidbar 12:12) was that there is no way for her to be purified from her Tzara'as except through a miracle.
Another interpretation: Let her not be like the dead-If You do not heal her through prayer, who will confine her? Who will cleanse her? I myself may not examine her, since I am related, and a relative many not examine plague marks [symptomatic of tzara’ath], and there is no other kohen in the world. This is the meaning of, “since he has come out of his mother’s womb.” [Sifrei Beha’alothecha 1:42:12, Tanchuma Tzav 13]
However, while Aharon cannot pronounce her pure, he would presumably unable to pronounce her impure (for the same reason - she's a relative). The law by a Metzora is that if a Kohen doesn't pronounce one a Metzora, he is Tahor.
So the same way Aharon (presumably) made her Tamei, he should make her Tahor?
Answer
Tosafos (Zevachim 102a, ד"ה אני מסגירה) asks this and leaves it unresolved.
Netziv (to Sifri on this verse) suggests two possibilities:
True that she'd be tahor, but she'd be in a state of suspense (not knowing what the outcome would be) until there is a kohen available - a yet-to-be-born son (or grandson) of Elazar or Isamar - who could check it and make the declaration. (And during that time the symptoms might get worse, such that where originally she could have been declared tahor, by the time her great-(great-)nephew sees it, she has to be declared tamei.) By contrast, if Aharon himself could declare her (tamei and then) tahor, she could be done with the whole thing in as little as two weeks.
Chinuch (mitzvah 169) states that the merit of following the laws of tzaraas itself helps the sufferer be healed. In this case, then, if Miriam is never even declared tamei, then she might continue suffering from tzaraas forever (along the lines of DoubleAA's comment on the question).
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