Effects of Inhalation of Lavender Essential Oil on Open-heart Surgery Pain

This study evaluated the effects of inhalation of lavender essential oil on the pain of open-heart surgery. the main complaint of patients after open-heart surgery is chest pain. due to the side effects of opioids, it is important to use a non-invasive way to effectively relieve pain including aromatherapy with analgesics. this study was a clinical single-blind trial and was conducted on 40 patients who had open-heart surgery in the cardiac icu of 2 hospitals of tehran university of medical sciences, 2012. criteria included: full consciousness, spontaneous breathing ability and not using synthetic opioids within 2 hours before extubation. after extubation, the patients were asked to mark the intensity of their pain using the visual analogue scale. then, a cotton swab which was impregnated with 2 drops of lavender essential oil 2% was placed in their oxygen mask, and they got breath for 10 minutes. 30 minutes after aromatherapy, they were asked to re-mark their pain intensity. the level of patient’s pain before and after aroma therapy were compared. the pain mean level before and after inhaling lavender essential oil was 5.60 (sd = 2.262) and 4.98 (sd = 2.293), respectively (p-value>0.05). therefore, there is no significant difference and the result of study proves that lavender essential oil inhalation has no effect on reducing the pain of open-heart surgery.