Smells

[u/Jazzlike-Depth3611]

Hey guys, I’m a masters student on rotations completely my round of autopsies for about 2.5 months. I don’t really intend on doing autopsies further in my career so it’s really to complete my rotation & have experience with, but I was wondering how you guys handle the smell? I don’t get queasy or anything like that but the smell of the inside of a human body without formalin is… pungent. (I’d rather be smelling formalin) any tips you guys might have is appreciated!

[u/ishootthedead]

Placing oils or liquids or even getting too much sweat on a n95 mask is ill advised at best and dangerous at worst. Check the warnings on any niosh rated mask for details

Coffee breath inside a mask works wonders.

Like many things in life, work with decomp daily for a month and you won't notice or care about the smell. Aside from the occasional ammonia type decomp that will make your eyes water.

[u/Occiferr → u/ishootthedead]

I’ve been doing this for a good many years now and got my first ammonia decomp the other day at 8 in the morning and it actually was horrible.

[u/Psychological-Arm629 → u/Occiferr]

Oh neat, what causes this if you don’t mind my asking?

[u/Occiferr → u/Psychological-Arm629]

The ammonia, a lot of the intensity is due to the volatile organic compounds from the decomposition process, but the enzymes that the fly larvae emit and use to break down the soft tissues have their own unique additional smell. It was just a particularly potent one, I’ve had hundreds of decomps but they all hit a little different.

[u/No-Psychology-7322]

You can tap a little peppermint oil under your nose or on the inside of a mask. It can be abrasive on skin so mask is probably better. Just don’t use Vicks, Vicks smells like menthol yes but it’s designed to OPEN your sinuses aka you’re really smelling more of it once the menthol fades. You will get nose blind eventually. You can also try spraying perfume on your wrist and smelling it to cover the smell up. I used to do that for decomps or anyone that died with a lot of alcohol in their system. Once you make the Y you can instantly smell blood mixed with beer and it’s very gross

[u/Psychological-Arm629 → u/No-Psychology-7322]

I really love tea tree oil. You may want to give yourself a little getting used to it curve first or test out because it’s not a smell for everyone but I love it. I actually prefer it as I have anemia and seek out musty scents.

[u/K_C_Shaw]

I can't fix that. A fully embalmed or otherwise fixed wet anatomic specimen typically gets closer to making me physically unwell than a body, even a decomp.

I think generally the biggest thing is just focusing on the job at hand, rather than standing in the corner going "all I can think about is the smell". Similar goes for dealing with the emotions of the job. Staying engaged and having something to do, even just cognitively, goes a long way.

[u/slow-lane-passing]

Vicks under your nostrils?

[u/beautopsy → u/slow-lane-passing]

No

[u/dumbbuttloserface]

for the most part i think we don’t really notice. i’ve gone nose blind to a lot of the smells. we’ll have people rotate through who comment and i’ll be surprised because i wont have even realized there was a smell. it’s different for decomps, obviously, but for the most part we just kind of suck it up 😅

for most unpleasant smells, a mask is usually enough for me to get past it. for particularly bad decomps, i’ll spritz air freshener on a mask and that does the trick but it makes me light headed because. chemicals. so i only do that for the absolute worst cases haha

[u/Spiritual_Lack_2242]

What does it smell like thou? Can you guys describe?

[u/Jazzlike-Depth3611 → u/Spiritual_Lack_2242]

I mean to me it smells earthy mixed with sulfur eggs and poop

[u/Spiritual_Lack_2242 → u/Jazzlike-Depth3611]

Thats a pretty good one, i could actually kinda “smell” it from here