Key points:
- We hypothesized that the surgical mask could filter some odorant
particles, leading to a transient hyposmia.
- A crossover prospective comparative study between 2 groups of 10
healthy volunteers was conducted to evaluate the impact of wearing a
surgical mask on sense of smell by comparing the results of sniffin’
sticks test (SST) with and without a surgical mask.
- All the subjects, except one, had a significantly better total score
(TDI) without a mask.
- 4/20 (20%) were normosmic without a mask, while being recategorized
as hyposmic with a mask.
- Wearing a surgical mask may reduce the sense of smell, in a cohort of
young normosmic patients.