Study: Your skin can 'smell' odours and heal faster

Now, you'd think that that you can only smell through your nose.

But new research says you would be wrong.

There are other parts of the body where tissue cells react to the detection of odour. Some of these places are the heart, blood, lungs, and as recently discovered, the skin.

The presence of these receptors in skin cells helps to accelerate wound healing.

Published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, it was shown that the receptors in human skin have potential therapeutic benefits, and studying the receptors could potentially help in the process of discovering new drugs and cosmetics.

For example, sandalore - a sandalwood-type smell - could have potential use as a topical ointment that could have anti-ageing properties or accelerate wound healing.

However, the Epoch Times reports that as with most good things, there will be negative effects on the human skin if the fragrances aren't handled with care and proper functions for the different types of receptors are not identified.

- Newser, Nature, Epoch Times