Aromatherapy may reduce anxiety, pain in oculoplastic surgery
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In patients who had oculoplastic surgery with monitored anesthesia sedation, aromatherapy may be associated with less anxiety and pain, according to a presenter at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
“Aromatherapy has been shown to reduce preoperative anxiety, and its effectiveness has also been shown in ophthalmic procedures, namely cataract surgery, in reducing anxiety,” Michael Chang, MD, said in the presentation. “However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies on the effects of aromatherapy on patients undergoing oculoplastic surgeries have been studied, and therefore this is the main role of our current study.”
In a non-masked, placebo-controlled prospective study, Chang and colleagues randomly assigned 60 patients who underwent oculoplastic surgery with monitored anesthesia care sedation at Ruby Memorial Hospital, West Virginia, between August 2018 and November 2020 to the aromatherapy group or the control group.
A cotton pad was attached to participants’ gowns preoperatively; 32 patients had a lavender-, bergamot- or orange-infused pad, and 28 patients had a sham pad. The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scale was used to measure preoperative anxiety traits and preoperative and postoperative anxiety states, and the visual analogue scale was used to measure anxiety and pain, according to the poster.
There were no significant differences in procedure type between the control and aromatherapy groups, with the most common procedures being ptosis repair, lesion excision and lateral tarsal strip. Thirteen patients had multiple procedures.
Compared with the control group, patients in the aromatherapy group had better anxiety and pain scores postoperatively.
“[Of] patients who received aromatherapy, the majority of them had improved postoperative anxiety, whereas if you looked at the control group, more patients compared to the aromatherapy group had increased postoperative anxiety,” Chang said.
Patients in the aromatherapy group also spent less time in the post-anesthesia care unit, which could financially benefit surgical centers, Chang said. Analysis of midazolam and dexmedetomidine use revealed neither was a significant contributor to outcomes.
“In conclusion, aromatherapy can be a safe treatment, but in addition, preoperative use of aromatherapy can have a synergistic effect with intraoperative anesthetics to reduce both pain and anxiety,” Chang said.
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Chang M, et al. The effect of aromatherapy on anxiety and pain in patients undergoing oculoplastic surgery: A pilot study. Presented at: American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting; Nov. 12-15, 2021; New Orleans.
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