Transcript
Announcer:
Welcome to DermConsult on ReachMD. On this episode, we’ll learn about the impacts of sweating on hidradenitis suppurativa, or HS, from Dr. Luis Garza. He’s a Professor of Dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Here’s Dr. Garza now.
Dr.Garza:
Sweating is a huge trigger for HS, and probably also friction and tight clothing. We notice that HS tends to happen in the underarms and groin, and also in the folds of the skin for folks that are a little bit overweight. And it's probably because those areas are sweating. We also notice HS tends to be worse during hot weather—patients can have more flares. And so all these things really just emphasize that sweat is critical.
We've started to analyze the content of sweat, and it looks very different in HS patients versus normal patients. We think, for example, it could be that after we eat a chemical, it ends up getting secreted in our sweat and is part of what makes HS worse.
So what I tell my patients to do is, after you work out, immediately take a shower, or at least wipe down your folds with a wipe or something. Basically, as soon as you can after exercising and sweating, laundering your clothes, changing your clothes, and wiping down your folds is really important.
It's really common that a lot of my patients are also young men who are doing a lot of really active work in their jobs. And so they're sweating a lot, and it's really accumulating, for example, around their groin area and their buttocks. And we see a lot of HS being really bad there too. So folks who have jobs where they sweat a lot, it's also really important for them to try to find looser clothing where they sweat less or clothing that can absorb sweat, and maybe take breaks if it's a really sweaty day and changing to another pair of clothes. I tell a lot of my patients, if you work out, instead of doing errands right after you work out, just try to go straight home to change your clothes and wipe down your folds. So that's really critical.
We think there's also something about pressure or high pressure that happens in some of these areas—like in the groin or in our skin folds—that also might make it worse. So having clothing that isn't putting a lot of pressure on your skin is also going to help your HS.
Announcer:
You just heard Dr. Luis Garza’s insights on the connection between sweat and HS severity. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit DermConsult on ReachMD.com, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening!
