The body consists largely of water. You drink water and it comes in through food. The water leaves the body through urine, feces, but also through breathing and sweating. A person sweats an average of six hundred to nine hundred milliliters per day. Sweating ensures that the body temperature is regulated, but what if you suffer from excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis, is there anything that can be done about it?

Article content

• To sweat
• A bad sweat odor
• The main components of sweat
• How do sweat glands work?
• Types of sweat glands
• Possible causes of excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis
• Treatment of excessive perspiration

To sweat

Sweating or perspiration is the release of sweat through the sweat glands. Every person sweats, fluid loss always continues, but you don’t always realize that. The skin may simply feel dry because most of the moisture evaporates very quickly. The main job of sweating is to release heat. Sweat also contains useful bacteria and fungi. These produce acidic waste such as lactic acid. Harmful bacteria are less likely to survive on the skin due to this acidic waste. Sweat also ensures that the top layer of the skin is protected against dehydration.

A bad sweat odor

Most of the sweat is lukewarm water, it doesn’t smell like anything. The bad odor you can smell is caused by bacteria. The older the sweat is, the more bacteria there are in the sweat, the more waste products and this produces the unpleasant odor. Sweat can also develop an unpleasant odor after you eat or swallow certain things. You should think of garlic, but it can also be caused by certain medications.

The main components of sweat

• Water
• Urea
• Lactic acid
• Sodium salts
• Potassium salts

How do sweat glands work?

A sweat gland can be described as a long tube wound into a ball. This is located just under the skin. Sweat is carried away through a channel that runs through the skin to the surface of the body. A sweat gland has a lot of blood flow, the sweat is extracted from the capillaries surrounding the sweat gland. Some of the salts are returned to the blood, but you also lose a lot of salts when you sweat. The sweat glands are under the influence of the autonomic nervous system , which in turn is influenced by the hypothalamus . The hypothalamus regulates the temperature in the body.

Types of sweat glands

Sweat glands are found all over the skin. There are two types of sweat glands:

• Eccrine sweat glands : These are found all over the body and play a significant role in regulating the body’s temperature. The eccrine sweat glands have another job, they moisten the palms. This provides a better grip when using tools, for example. Unfortunately, if you sweat too much, this positive effect disappears. If you are tense, the glands will be stimulated to produce sweat, especially the glands in the face and palms.
• Apocrine sweat glands : these are the glands that spread the not so pleasant sweat odor. They are located in certain places on the body: armpits, near the anus and around the nipples. In children, these sweat glands have not yet developed, this happens during puberty (under the influence of sex hormones). When the sweat reaches the surface of the skin, it does not smell yet, the odor is created when bacteria convert the sweat. Sweat produced by the apocrine sweat glands occurs in small amounts throughout the day. Effort and emotions have almost no influence on it. The smell of sweat is often experienced as unpleasant, but sometimes it arouses or intensifies sexual feelings. An unpleasant odor is also called bromhidrosis.

Possible causes of excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis

• There may be a connection with certain diseases;
• A congenital abnormality of the nerves;
• A nerve abnormality acquired at a later age;
• However, for most people there is no abnormality, but excessive sweating does hinder their social life. Certain activities may also become dangerous, for example if you drive a car with very sweaty hands.

Treatment of excessive perspiration

• Creams containing aluminum : it is a simple treatment but the effect is very variable.
• Lontophoresis : this is a technique in which an electric current is passed through a container of tap water in specially developed equipment. It is thought that by keeping the hands or feet in the tank for some time, the sweat duct will be temporarily closed. This result lasts for several days.
• Botulinum toxin : this therapy has not been around for very long. Small amounts of botulinum toxin are injected into the skin. It is a nerve poison made by the botulinum bacteria. The functioning of the nerves that stimulate the sweat glands is blocked. In practice, it is especially suitable for excessive sweating in the armpits, because the treatment is hardly painful in that area (but it is in the feet and hands). Furthermore, the effect lasts a relatively long time in the armpits. Not everyone responds to Botox, but most people who receive treatment experience a major reduction or even elimination of sweating. A referral from your GP is required for treatment.