Aromatherapy as Modern Medicine
By Julie A. White RN

Aromatherapy has been used throughout the world for thousands of years in perfume, environmental fragrancing, religious ceremony and meditation, and in medicine. Cleopatra used Bulgarian rose petals to attract Marc Anthony by coating the sails of her ship with the oil from the rose petals so that he could smell the scent of her ship approaching home from miles away. Today Bulgarian rose is one of the most expensive oils used in aromatherapy as it takes thousands of pounds of the petals to make one ounce of oil.

The Egyptians used perfumes, resins, and fragrant preparations to embalm their dead. So strong is the antiseptic power of the oils used in Aromatherapy that the tissues were still well preserved thousands of years later. During the Renaissance the use of oils expanded into perfumery and cosmetics. Nicholas Lemery, the personal physician of Louis XIV,used many cologne waters that still exist today: Melissa water, Arquebuse water, and the famous Cologne water.

The birth of modern Aromatherapy was formally developed in France in the late 1920s and grew into a mainstream movement in Europe. The term itself was coined by a French chemist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse. Gattefosse was working in the lavender fields of the French Maritime Alps when he burned his hand and arm in an explosion in his laboratory. The only liquid nearby was a vat of lavender oil. He plunged his hand and arm in the vat. The pain disappeared instantly, and his burned skin healed very quickly and without scarring. This remarkable recovery led Gattefosse to further investigate the healing power of essential oils, which became the basis of modern Aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils in the cosmetic industry, in massage, in esthetician practice, and in medicine. Essential oils are highly volatile oily substances extracted from plants that contain hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, and antiseptics. They are the most concentrated forms of oil extracted from plant leaves,petals, stems, branches and bark. The oils are extracted, then put through a distillation process to remove the water, and the end result is 75-100x more concentrated than when the oil was originally extracted from the plant , tree, or flower.

Essential oils have the same chemical properties of our modern synthetic pharmaceuticals, but can be used on many different levels. Essential oils are extremely versatile materials; they are both medicine and fragrance; they can cure the most severe physical condition and can reach to the depths of one's memory or emotions.

Some essential oils are easily made, such as lemon or orange, as only the peel is needed to easily extract the plentiful oil. Its cost is only a few dollars. The light floral fragrances such as jasmine or rose require thousands of pounds of petals to produce a tiny drop of concentrated oil and thus the cost ranges between fifty and hundreds of dollars for less than an ounce. The costs of essential oils vary greatly, and the cost reflects the difficulty in the extraction and distillation processes, and quantities of plant materials needed for extraction.

Today's mass marketing is deluging the market with books and products that both entice and confuse the American consumer. Education is the key to learning about the use of essential oils so that abuse and harm will not result.

In France and the European countries Aromatherapy is prescribed by physicians much in the same way prescription drugs are used in the United States. Prescriptions are written for external and internal use. Aromatherapy is taught in medical schools. In England its use is restricted to professionals who have graduated from nursing schools, massage therapy schools, or cosmetology and have been granted certification from one of eighty approved aromatherapy institutes. These professionals are then granted the right to use essential oils in their professional practices. Clinical trials are diligently measured and charted for safety and dosage. Essential oils are cautiously mixed and less is better, never more than four drops diluted in a large reserve of water, massage oil, lotion or gel.

Just as one must be cautious in taking or combining prescription or over the counter drugs, so too is the same caution needed in using essential oils. Overuse or combining too many essential oils may result in side effects or adverse reactions. Caution must be used with children, pregnant women, and persons with high blood pressure. The two safest essential oils are lavender and tea tree and are the only oils that may be applied directly to the skin. Every other essential oil must be diluted in a carrier solution prior to using in the bath, on the skin, or for inhalation through steam nebulizer.

Aromatherapy in the United States has only been in significant existence since 1980, and currently there are only two schools for general certification and two professional organizations which have yet to standardize protocols, practice,and differentiate between cosmetic, medical, and mass-market aromatherapy. The first clinical trials are being conducted at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Hospital in New York City by Jane Buckle, a Registered Nurse from England who is training nurses in clinical aromatherapy for use in the United States. This writer is currently enrolled in the certification course.

The medicinal uses of aromatherapy are well known from the smells of the eucalyptus in Vicks VapoRub to the warming qualities of camphor in BomBenGay, and birch in Aspercreme. Birch, extracted from the American white birch contains acetylsalicylic acid known to every American's medicine cabinet as aspirin. The anti-inflammatory properties in aspirin have long been used for arthritis and sore muscles. A massage oil blended with birch essential oil and massaged into the skin and muscles diminish pain and inflammation. Eucalyptus essential oil in the bath water can clear up congestion from colds and sinus infection, and relieve achy muscles from the flu or over exertion. Lavender will promote relaxation and sleep, as well as decrease inflammation, swelling, pain, and redness on the skin or anywhere on the body. Rosemary is uplifting and stimulating, and is used to boost fatigue or jetlag. It can be used in the bath, as shower gel, or inhaled on a tissue for a quick boost late in the afternoon. It is known to raise blood pressure, so caution must be taken if hypertension is a problem.

There are hundreds of essential oils just as there are over the counter drugs. Caution is advised and education is required in their use. With a little understanding of preparation, application, and safety, these oils can enhance the health of all ages of people, and can be incorporated into everyone's busy lifestyle. These natural medications are pleasant to use and smell. Once the nose acquires an awareness of true essential oils, synthetically- made products quickly take on a chemical odor when smelled, and it is easy to tell the difference. Persons with allergies to bath products and perfumes and environmental fragrances will find that when using true essential oils their allergies are diminished or eliminated, as there is no chemical synthetic reaction occurring.

The new millenium of modern medicine will incorporate old and new traditions of medical practices. Aromatherapy, so very old, and yet so very new ,will be a pleasant and fragrant addition to the medicine cabinets of the twenty-first century.