Olfactory training for the treatment of COVID-19 related smell loss: a randomised double-blind controlled trial.

Summary: Many people lost their sense of smell after getting COVID-19. Doctors often suggest "smell training" to help it come back. In this study, researchers tested if smell training really works better than a fake treatment (a placebo). They followed 123 people for six months.

The result? Smell training was not any better than the fake treatment. Most people (about 85%) got their smell back no matter what they did. The best sign that someone would heal was if their smell wasn't too bad to begin with. Also, starting any treatment early (within 30 days) helped people recover faster. Lastly, steroid medicines did not change the outcome.