Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 2/2)

Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 2/2)
How to detect and fix body odour

By Dr Shyneth Galapia | Reprinted with permission from Ezyhealth & Beauty magazine

Click here for Part 1

Body odour may also be influenced by poor hygiene, age (more common in adolescents, adults), gender (male) and diet. Dr Chan says, “Food like garlic, curry, strong spices and too much red meat can contribute to body odour.”

There’s a solution to whatever is causing body odour. Hygiene is of utmost importance. A little help from deodorants and antiperspirants are often enough to get rid of the offending odour.

Visit a dermatologist when these tricks fail to solve your odour troubles or if you suspect that a medical problem are is causing your body odour.

NECK
Odour trouble: Neck stench (accumulation of sweat)

How to fix:
- Apply absorbent agent such as baby powder
- Don’t allow sweat to dry; wipe it off right away

UNDERARMS
Odour trouble: Underarm stink (increased number of sweat glands, accumulation of sweat)

How to fix:
- Routinely apply deodorants or antiperspirants
- Get rid of underarm hair

CHEST/BACK
Odour trouble: Smelly torso (accumulation of sweat)

How to fix:
- Apply an absorbent agent such as baby powder
- Trim or get rid of chest hairs
- Wear cotton undergarments or use garment shields to help absorb the sweat. Lightweight clothing is also recommended
- Wipe off sweat right away

FEET
Odour trouble: Smelly feet (increased number of sweat glands, accumulation of sweat, fungal infection)

How to fix:
- Keep your feet clean and dry (don’t forget the spaces between your toes)
- Wear a clean pair of cotton socks everyday
- Use foot deodorants and antiperspirants
- Go barefoot when you can, to allow air to dry your feet
- Consult a dermatologist for fungal infection

GROIN/GENITALIA
Odour trouble: Malodorous groin (increased number of sweat glands; vaginal infections)

How to fix:
- Make sure to wash your private parts thoroughly each time you bathe
- Using a gentle feminine wash may help keep the area fresh
- Wear cotton undergarments to help absorb the sweat
- Consult a doctor for vaginal infections

HEAD
Odour trouble: Smelly hair and scalp (increased number of sweat glands, oil, dandruff, cigarette smoke, dust)

How to fix:
- Wash hair regularly
- Consult a dermatologist for dandruff and scalp disorders

GENERAL HYGIENE PRACTICES
- Bathe daily, even twice or thrice a day if you sweat profusely
- Wear clean, dry clothes. Bacteria strive in moist environment

Special thanks to Dr Chan Yuin Chew, Dermatologist, Dermatology Associates, Gleneagles Medical Centre and Dr Eileen Tan, Dermatologist, Eileen Tan Skin, Laser and Hair Transplant Clinic, Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre.

Sources:
1. Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 2/2)
2. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/003218.htm
3. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sweating-and-body-odor/DS00305

Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 1/2)

Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 1/2)
Sweat is actually odourless, so what you need to do is check on your hygiene

By Dr Shyneth Galapia | Reprinted with permission from Ezyhealth & Beauty magazine

AT SOME point in our lives, all of us have experienced being next to a person with body odour. It’s never a pleasant experience to sit next to a smelly classmate or be crammed on a train full of sweaty people.

More importantly, people with body odour may suffer from personal and social relationships. Feelings of embarrassment and decreased self-confidence are common.

SWEATING IT OUT
Sweating is the body’s biological way of regulating temperature, that’s why sweating is more profuse when it’s hot. Composed mainly of salt and water, sweat produces a cooling effect on the body as it evaporates from the skin.

Although about two to four million sweat glands are distributed on the skin, some body parts are more likely to sweat because they have more sweat glands.

According to Dr Chan Yuin Chew, a dermatologist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, “The palms, soles and underarms contain a lot of sweat glands.”

Sweat glands occurring over most parts of the body are called eccrine glands and they are responsible for producing the watery component of sweat.

Those found in hairy areas such as the scalp, armpits and groin are called apocrine glands. Bacterial breakdown of sweat produced from these glands is most likely to produce body odour because it contains protein, carbohydrate, ammonia and fats.

As these glands only mature during puberty, young children rarely develop body odour.

Several factors influence the way people sweat. Certain foods (spicy) and beverages (hot and those with alcohol or caffeine) can make you sweat.

Other factors that increase sweating include certain medical conditions (fever, hyperthyroidism, heart attack, tubeculosis, malaria) and medicines (morphine, anti-depressants).

“When one is excited or angry, there is increased sympathetic activity and one will notice that he or she will start sweating more profusely,” says Dr Eileen Tan, a dermatologist at the Eileen Tan Skin, Laser and Hair Transplant Clinic in Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre.

DECODING BODY ODOUR
Body odour is an unpleasant smell produced by a sweating and unhygienic person. Most of us would point to sweating or perspiration as the culprit, but it is not.

Sweat is actually odourless.

Dr Tan says, “Body odour is caused by a natural process involving sweat that occurs on the skin’s surface. However, if sweat is left on the skin for a long period of time, the bacteria that normally live there feed on it and break it down. This process releases chemicals that cause the unpleasant smell.”

Source: Are You A Walking Smell Bomb? (Part 1/2)