Is body odor hereditary? How to prevent it?

Body odor is a genetic disease clinically and is most common in families. Sometimes it is inherited from the previous generation, and sometimes it is inherited directly. The inheritance of body odor also has its own rules. It does not mean that if parents have body odor, their children will definitely inherit it. Although body odor is inherited, it is not an incurable disease after the onset of the disease. It will slowly disappear with the patient's age. To prevent it, you should pay attention to changing clothes frequently, maintaining hygiene, applying antiperspirants to the armpits, removing armpit hair, and preventing the body odor from getting worse.

The occurrence of underarm odor is clearly related to genetics;

Almost all cases seen clinically have a family history, with the father or ancestors having a history of axillary odor. Those with a family history of axillary odor have inherited axillary odor constitution, but it only manifests itself during puberty. Studies have shown that axillary odor is hereditary. If one parent has axillary odor, half of their children will also have it. However, if the children are spared, the inheritance rate of their offspring will be greatly reduced. However, axillary odor is not contagious, so even if you often interact with patients with axillary odor, you will not get it yourself.

A male will pass it on to one child, and a female will pass it on to a whole litter. This is an old Chinese saying, which also reflects the genetic law of axillary odor. It means: if the father has underarm odor, it will only be transmitted to one of the children, but if the mother has underarm odor, it will be transmitted to all the children. The previous generation didn’t have it, but recessive inheritance cannot be ruled out. It is possible that the grandfather or grandfather-in-law has it but it is not passed on to the parents, but one of the parents is a recessive carrier of axillary odor. In this case, it will still be inherited as a dominant trait in the next generation.

How to prevent body odor?

(1) Pay attention to personal hygiene, take a bath frequently, change underwear frequently, and keep your armpits dry and clean at all times to reduce the spread of odor. You can also apply Xishilan Summer Dew and Dissolve Armpit Fragrance topically to remove odor. Eat less or no strong irritating foods.

(2) Using liquid nitrogen to freeze the sweat glands can damage the secretion function of the underarm sweat glands.

(3) Surgical removal of the apocrine sweat glands in the armpits is an ideal radical cure. The surgery is performed under local anesthesia and generally does not require hospitalization.

Pathological etiology

1. Apocrine bromhidrosis

Apocrine sweat glands only exist in the armpits, areola, navel, anus, vulva and external auditory canal. Except for the armpits, the function of these glands in other parts is very weak and the sweat produced is very little. The sweat secreted by the apocrine sweat glands is initially sterile. Under the action of microorganisms, the organic matter in the sweat is decomposed to form short-chain fatty acids and ammonia with a special odor, leading to the occurrence of apocrine bromhidrosis.

2. Eccrine bromhidrosis

It often occurs on the palms, soles and intertriginous areas. Sweat is usually colorless and odorless. However, in the case of excessive sweating, sweat is decomposed by parasitic bacteria on the skin surface to release fatty acids, which produces a special odor. Other substances such as garlic and arsenic can be excreted through the sweat glands to cause odor.

3. Bromhidrosis may also occur when the mental or nervous system is damaged (such as paranoia, schizophrenia, etc.).

4. The occurrence of axillary odor may be related to genetics.