Lincoln Doctor Is Helping Covid-19 Patients Restore Their Smell

March 31, 2021, 3:50 p.m. ·

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Dr. Aaron Robinson. (Courtesy photo)

A doctor at CHI Health in Lincoln is helping patients with lingering effects of COVID-19 learn to smell and taste again.

Dr. Aaron Robinson is an otolaryngologist and he utilizes a method called ‘smell retraining therapy’ where he has clients smell different types of essential oils three times a day for 30 seconds with each oil.

“But overtime as you visualize what the smell is, as you stimulate the nerves by breathing in the scent, what happens is the brain starts to make those connections again,” Robinson said.

Robinson said people can lose their sense of smell temporarily due to physical accidents or virus illnesses that impact their nose nerves.

The therapy has been used in the past and helps speed up the process of smell recovery. He said he’s worked with at least 10 Lincoln patients since the start of the pandemic.

“In the studies at least, 60-70% of people got better, faster than those that didn’t do the smell retraining,” Robinson said.

He said the therapy should be done for at least three months for the best results. Robinson said the technique can also be used to restore loss of taste associated with COVID-19.