When does body odor occur and what causes it?

As the weather gets hotter, people sweat more and more, and they can no longer hide their underarm odor. They are looked at strangely by others and become inferior. So what causes underarm odor? When does it occur? How can it be treated?

Causes and onset of underarm odor

Bromhidrosis is caused by the special odor of sweat gland secretion or the odor produced by the decomposition of sweat, also known as bromhidrosis. Normal people have apocrine glands in the armpits, areola, perianal area, vulva, and external auditory canal. The odor is caused by various bacteria in the area decomposing the organic substances contained in the apocrine gland secretions to produce unsaturated fatty acids. Due to the influence of hormone secretion, apocrine glands develop and secrete vigorously during puberty, so the smell of bromhidrosis is stronger during this period, which directly leads to some children not daring to contact other classmates or being discriminated against by other classmates, which greatly affects the psychological development of children.

How to treat underarm odor?

What are the methods? The earliest treatment for underarm odor was simple medication. These medications are antiperspirants or drugs that inhibit the secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands. These drugs can reduce the secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands, reduce the number of bacterial decompositions, and thus reduce the odor. However, these drugs will have a certain degree of irritation to the skin. Long-term application will cause the skin to thicken.

More conservative treatment methods include laser or microwave therapy. Laser or microwave therapy destroys the sweat glands and sebaceous glands in the skin to reduce their secretion. This treatment is more suitable for patients with less severe underarm odor. After treatment, the skin damage is small and the recovery time is short. It can significantly reduce the smell of underarm odor but cannot completely eliminate it. After this treatment, you only need to apply ointment, which has little impact on your life.

Then there is surgical treatment. Surgery is the most thorough method of treating axillary odor. Traditional surgical treatment is to completely remove the skin in the armpit hair area. This method is the most thorough and has the lowest recurrence rate. However, a large area of ​​surgical resection is prone to cause scar formation in the armpit area, affecting the movement of the upper limb joints. Now, after improvements, two small incisions are made in the armpit area, and the skin flaps are separated and then turned over to remove the apocrine sweat glands. This is currently the best choice for surgical treatment. Compared with traditional surgical methods, this type of surgery has a smaller incision, less damage, faster recovery, and thorough removal of sweat glands. It has gradually become the best choice for surgical resection. After improvements, the surgery can achieve the same effect as traditional surgical methods.

So when is the best time to treat underarm odor?

Since children's sweat glands can only be fully developed after adulthood, we recommend that parents wait until their children reach adulthood before starting treatment, which is around 19 years old. If the sweat glands of children are not fully developed after early treatment, the condition may recur. Due to the improvement of our living conditions, children develop earlier. Some children have severe underarm odor at the age of 11 or 12. We recommend that parents bathe their children frequently, change their clothes frequently, or choose appropriate topical medications to help children reduce the smell of underarm odor under the guidance of a doctor without affecting their physical and mental development. For those with less underarm odor in adulthood, laser or microwave treatment can be selected. For those with stronger odor, we recommend surgical treatment.