Kevin E. McLaughlin, MD, DABSM Clinical Assistant Professor Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at LSU Health Sciences New Orleans
The loss of smell from COVID for six months or longer is a growing public health concern. Dr. Kevin McLaughlin, Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery Professor at LSU Health New Orleans said a majority of people do recover their sense of smell in a week or two.
“And in other people, it might be three to four months, and in some people, it’s much longer or they never recover their sense of smell,” said McLaughlin.
Loss of smell, also known as anosmia, is so prevalent with COVID that McLaughlin said instead of asking if you have a fever or respiratory symptoms we should be asking if you’ve noticed a change in your ability to smell as an indicator of COVID.
He said most regain a sense of smell in a week or two because the swelling has gone down. For another group, it may take three to four months, because the cells surrounding the olfactory nerves were damaged and it takes longer to recover, and then there’s a third group.
“Where it may be six, nine, twelve months before they recover and what they do recover may be a perversion of their sense of smell or they just don’t have any recovery at all. And in those people the olfactory nerve has sustained an injury,” said McLaughlin.
Loss of smell also can impact your sense of taste which McLaughlin said is a most unfortunate result of COVID in Louisiana, especially with our amazing cuisine. And the loss of smell can also pose a danger with the inability to detect natural gas, smoke, and spoiled food.
McLaughlin says if your sense of smell is altered, he highly encourages you to have a CO2 detector in your home, regularly check your smoke detector and observe expiration dates on your food. He also advises writing a date on leftovers to avoid foodborne illness.
McLaughlin said and for some, they do regain a sense of smell, but it’s altered, and instead of pleasant odors like flowers or fresh fruit…
“A person will smell something putrid like a wet dog or a dirty diaper. We call that dysosmia which is where you are stimulated to experience a scent but your memory of it is distorted,” said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said the best way to avoid either a temporary, possibly long-term, or even a distorted sense of smell or taste is to get vaccinated for COVID.
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