Orange. Eucalyptus. Lavender. Peppermint.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado and Seattle Children’s Hospital will use scents like these to treat children who lost their sense of smell to covid-19. Parents will attend clinics and go home with a set of essential oils for their child to sniff twice a day for three months. Clinicians will check their progress monthly.
The Smell Disturbance Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado was approved to open March 10. So far, five children have been screened and one enrolled. Seattle Children’s expects to open its program this spring.
The treatment, known as “smell training,” is clinically proven to be effective in adults. However, clinicians said, there’s virtually no data on whether the method will work in children.