We are inundated with stressful situations every day of our lives; dealing with the kids, the bills, the health problems, the in-laws, the car; and most of us don't even have to worry about what it is like to live with the effects of excessive sweating. But there is a small percentage of the population that does have to worry about that, and when you are part of that group, you know just how life-altering and oppressive armpit sweating can become.
And it's not usually just one area of the body that is affected when armpit sweating becomes a problem. Quite often the hands or feet, or both, are involved as well and not only are you worried about whether your armpits are surrounded by a wet clammy circle on your clothes, but also whether your feet will smell when you remove your shoes, or will your hand be clammy and wet when you shake someone's hand. All these things come into play with armpit sweating, more commonly known in scientific areas as axillary hyperhidrosis. What is going on is that something triggers an emotional response in the person and the body responds by sweating profusely; generating so much sweat that it dribbles down your sides and soaks your clothes as well as mixing with the opportunistic bacteria residing on the skin that now take up residence in the sweat and begin to produce odor. So now, not only are you wet and uncomfortable, but you smell.
With armpit sweating, about 1% of the general population is affected by the condition, and life is hard to bear for most of them, trying to keep your underarms dry and your clothing in the shape that would not turn people away just by looking at you. Nothing is more disconcerting than to have to be meeting clients and not only is your shirt or blouse soaked under your arms and clinging to you , but sometimes your suit jacket over the shirt is involved also. Having to worry about what you look like and what impression you are making all of the time you are out in public, eventually takes a toll on you and many people just retreat from public contact because they can't take the scrutiny and the looks. This type of sweating is also very resistant to the general bounty of deodorants and odor controlling medicines that are out there on the market, so the armpit sweating sufferer is restricted in what will work.
The more technical side of the affliction concerns what actually causes armpit sweating in such volumes and what is happening. The glands that are involved in sweat production are the apocrine glands and the eccrine glands and they each have their own function. The apocrine glands are actually outgrowths of the hair follicles and produce a thick, viscous sweat which leads to odor production when coming in contact with skin bacteria. The eccrine glands produce the clear, watery portion of the sweat, and are primarily for thermal regulation and function to cool down the overheated body, and do not produce the sweat that causes odor.
Treatments for those who are suffering from armpit sweating in particular, range from the more conservative products found on the market to out and out surgery. Some of the products available are: Maxim, Drysol, Odaban, and Botox. These products work in the cases that are not as dramatic as the folks who have the very extreme sweating problems, and for those folks quite often surgery is the only option.
Surgical methods are available for those people who opt to go that route because nothing else that they have tried has worked, and they just can't live with the problem any longer. The problems surrounding surgery can be a put off for some folks and none of the surgical methods can claim 100% success rates. There are two main types of surgery available for armpit sweating: the first is skin excision, where parts of the skin layer are removed causing, in some cases, scarring and reduced mobility of the area affected. The second is removal of the glands themselves. This type of surgery is done through superficial liposuction, and again is not guaranteed as a cure.
With the advances in technology and treatments that we have available to us today, there is hope for those of us who suffer everyday from the effects of armpit sweating and all the tawdry problems that go along with it. With the proper care from a doctor, or conservative treatment methods, or even surgery; armpit sweating can be controlled so that the folks who have the problem can enjoy life more and not suffer the embarrassment of wet, smelly clothes and ruined first impressions. - 14130
And it's not usually just one area of the body that is affected when armpit sweating becomes a problem. Quite often the hands or feet, or both, are involved as well and not only are you worried about whether your armpits are surrounded by a wet clammy circle on your clothes, but also whether your feet will smell when you remove your shoes, or will your hand be clammy and wet when you shake someone's hand. All these things come into play with armpit sweating, more commonly known in scientific areas as axillary hyperhidrosis. What is going on is that something triggers an emotional response in the person and the body responds by sweating profusely; generating so much sweat that it dribbles down your sides and soaks your clothes as well as mixing with the opportunistic bacteria residing on the skin that now take up residence in the sweat and begin to produce odor. So now, not only are you wet and uncomfortable, but you smell.
With armpit sweating, about 1% of the general population is affected by the condition, and life is hard to bear for most of them, trying to keep your underarms dry and your clothing in the shape that would not turn people away just by looking at you. Nothing is more disconcerting than to have to be meeting clients and not only is your shirt or blouse soaked under your arms and clinging to you , but sometimes your suit jacket over the shirt is involved also. Having to worry about what you look like and what impression you are making all of the time you are out in public, eventually takes a toll on you and many people just retreat from public contact because they can't take the scrutiny and the looks. This type of sweating is also very resistant to the general bounty of deodorants and odor controlling medicines that are out there on the market, so the armpit sweating sufferer is restricted in what will work.
The more technical side of the affliction concerns what actually causes armpit sweating in such volumes and what is happening. The glands that are involved in sweat production are the apocrine glands and the eccrine glands and they each have their own function. The apocrine glands are actually outgrowths of the hair follicles and produce a thick, viscous sweat which leads to odor production when coming in contact with skin bacteria. The eccrine glands produce the clear, watery portion of the sweat, and are primarily for thermal regulation and function to cool down the overheated body, and do not produce the sweat that causes odor.
Treatments for those who are suffering from armpit sweating in particular, range from the more conservative products found on the market to out and out surgery. Some of the products available are: Maxim, Drysol, Odaban, and Botox. These products work in the cases that are not as dramatic as the folks who have the very extreme sweating problems, and for those folks quite often surgery is the only option.
Surgical methods are available for those people who opt to go that route because nothing else that they have tried has worked, and they just can't live with the problem any longer. The problems surrounding surgery can be a put off for some folks and none of the surgical methods can claim 100% success rates. There are two main types of surgery available for armpit sweating: the first is skin excision, where parts of the skin layer are removed causing, in some cases, scarring and reduced mobility of the area affected. The second is removal of the glands themselves. This type of surgery is done through superficial liposuction, and again is not guaranteed as a cure.
With the advances in technology and treatments that we have available to us today, there is hope for those of us who suffer everyday from the effects of armpit sweating and all the tawdry problems that go along with it. With the proper care from a doctor, or conservative treatment methods, or even surgery; armpit sweating can be controlled so that the folks who have the problem can enjoy life more and not suffer the embarrassment of wet, smelly clothes and ruined first impressions. - 14130
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