Scientists Find Treatments for Restoring Your Sense of Smell
Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog
Hundreds of thousands of people are born without a sense of smell, but scientists estimate nearly 25 million have some problem with their olfactory system. The most common non-genetic causes include head
trauma, respiratory infections, allergies, chronic inflammation of the nose and germs.
Can you imagine not being able to smell your cosmetics and personal care products? Of course, eating food would be a lot less enjoyable too. You couldn’t tell a difference between cherry, mint or butterscotch.
On the other hand, it may make picking products easier. You could use lotions, creams, and cleansers based strictly on how well they work and be influenced by a bad fragrance. To demonstrate how much fragrance influences whether you like a product, think about all your favorite products and whether you like how they smell. It turns out fragrance is one of the most important factors in how well you think a product works. We’ve even tested products that are identical except for fragrance and people swear that they perform differently.
Loss of smell treatments
If you are someone who’s lost their sense of smell, there is a chance you can get it back. The following treatments have been shown some benefits in restoring it.
- Theophylline - derived from tea and thought to inhibit the breakdown of nasal mucus cells
- Vitamin A therapy - showed some initial promise but recent results have been disappointing
- Sniff training - people smell odors over 3-months and attempt to retrain their sense
- Nasal stem cells - cells implanted to replace the ones lost. Stem cells do everything eh?
The good news is that if you have this problem there are some treatments that could help. The Beauty Brains are not doctors so we suggest you talk to yous about it because cosmetics are so much more fun when you can smell them.
