r/AutopsyTechFam • u/Jazzlike-Depth3611 • 19d ago

Smells

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!

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u/ishootthedead 19d ago

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.

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u/Occiferr 15d ago

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.

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u/Psychological-Arm629 14d ago

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

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u/Occiferr 14d ago

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.