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Aromatherapy involves the use of essential oils from plant extracts for therapeutic purposes. This practice dates back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Indian traditions. French chemist and scholar René-Maurice Gattefossé (1881–1950) is considered to be the father of modern aromatherapy. He discovered the healing properties of lavender when he accidentally burned his hand while working in his laboratory. He continued to experiment on essential oils, including thyme, lemon and clove, and used these with First World War soldiers as antiseptics. In recent years, aromatherapy is being used for stress and pain relief, headaches, and digestive and menstrual problems. The essential oils can be massaged into the skin, added to warm bath water, blended into lotions or creams, or inhaled through a diffuser, vaporizer or candles. Consumers can buy oils at pharmacies or health shops or attend an aromatherapy session with a trained therapist. However, as with other CAMs, systematic reviews on the efficacy of aromatherapy have produced inconclusive results (Hur et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2012).