Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is based on the use of aromatic materials, including essential oils and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological well-being. It is offered as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine. Fragrances used in aromatherapy are not approved as prescription drugs in the United States. People may use blends of essential oils as topical application, massage, inhalation, or water immersion. There is no good medical evidence that aromatherapy can either prevent, treat or cure any disease. There is disputed evidence that it may be effective in combating postoperative nausea and vomiting. The use of essential oils for therapeutic, spiritual, hygienic and ritualistic purposes goes back to ancient civilizations including the Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans who used them in cosmetics, perfumes and drugs. Oils were used for aesthetic pleasure and in the beauty industry. They were a luxury item and a means of payment. It was believed the essential oils increased the shelf life of wine and improved the taste of food. Oils are described by Dioscorides, along with beliefs of the time regarding their healing properties, in his De Materia Medica, written in the first century. Distilled cedarwood oil was used by the ancient Egyptians, and the process of distilling essential oils like rose essence was refined by the 11th century Persian scholar Ibn Sina. Hildegard of Bingen used distilled lavender oil for medicinal treatments in the 12th century, and by the 15th century, oils were commonly distilled from various plant sources. In the era of modern medicine, the naming of this treatment first appeared in print in 1937 in a French book on the subject: Aromathérapie: Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Végétales by fr, a chemist. An English version was published in 1993. In 1910, Gattefossé burned a hand and later claimed he treated it effectively with lavender oil. A French surgeon, fr, pioneered the supposed medicinal uses of essential oils, which he used as antiseptics in the treatment of wounded soldiers during World War II.