Control Underarm Sweat |
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 April 24, 2008 |
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by Jed Elaine
Underarms are an interesting region in our body. Many refer to it colloquially as gross while others are attracted to it in a sexy way. They even have a term for that - axillism. They’re ticklish too, so they can be a source of play-fun when in the mood especially with children. But seriously, underarms are by nature vulnerable and prone to problems.
Underarms are a sweaty business. As such, they entail high maintenance and can be prone to hygiene or medical problems if they are not accorded with proper care. The underarm regions are endowed with high concentration of sweat glands (both eccrine and apocrine) and hair follicles and can easily get messy through their routine functions.
The two main functions of Underarm Sweat are the following: 1) to regulate the temperature in the region when it gets heated up through physical exertion or surrounding factors and 2) to provide lubrication so as to lower friction when arms rub against the body. The underarm hair plays a role in increasing the surface area for the sweat (eccrine) to evaporate over thereby making it cooling better. The sweat brought through by the Aprocrine sweat glands has no known purpose. What is known about it though is that bacteria feed upon the milky secretion and subsequently discharge waste which is the cause of odor associated with underarms.
Hence, underarm sweating is natural and normal when healthy people are subjected to their expectant conditions. This can go wrong by having too much (Axillary Hyperhidrosis) or too little (Axillary Anhydrosis) of it. Of the two conditions, Axillary Anhydrosis is generally much more serious. Full-fledged medical attention must be summoned quickly as it’s potentially life-threatening.
Excessive Underarm Sweat sufferers outnumber those on the opposite end of the spectrum who are handicapped in that facility by a distance. Millions of Americans carry the problem in varying degrees. A good percentage of those have excessive sweat disorder also in other parts of their body such as hands (Palmar), feet (Plantar) and face (Facial).
Excessive Underarm Sweat can be further broken down into 2 categories, namely Primary and Secondary Axillary Hyperhidrosis. This applies to other types of excessive sweating also (face, hands, feet). Primary Excessive Underarm Sweat is straightforward in that it is not attached to any other medical condition while Secondary Excessive Underarm Sweat involves an underlying ailment such as diabetes, fever, tuberculosis, hyperthyroidism and so forth.
So, underarm sweat is not a curse. Ask those Anhydrosis sufferers and they will come out in cheers for underarm sweat. Actually, underarm sweat hardly ever becomes a problem for those who practice good hygiene, exercise and eat right. This alone will go a long way in mitigating the problem even for those who are genuinely afflicted through bad genetics.
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