Treatment of Body odour

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You should have regular baths or showers. You should wear clean clothes; these should be washed and then dried quickly, as bacteria can survive in damp clothing. Wash and thoroughly dry your feet regularly. Wear open sandals or bare feet where possible. When you wear enclosed shoes use cotton socks and avoid wearing trainers too often.

After washing, use an under-arm deodorant containing an anti-perspirant. This will reduce the amount of sweat produced. Different brands have different active ingredients so some may work better than others.

You can also get the following preparations from pharmacies (chemists):

chlorhexidine: an antibacterial solution used to wash feet and under the arms. It kills the bacteria that cause BO.
anhydrol forte: this blocks sweat glands and can be applied at night a couple of times a week.

Avoiding very spicy foods may also help.

There are surgical treatments, but only for very severe sweating â€“ a condition known as hyperhidrosis. This involves either:

removing a small area of skin from the armpit, to remove some sweat glands. This is done under a local anaesthetic
or
destroying the nerve centres that control sweating under the arms. This is called an endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomy, and is done under a general anaesthetic.

Botox (a bacterial poison that stops nerves from working properly) can also be used as a treatment for hyperhidrosis. A small amount of Botox is injected into the skin near the armpit.

This helps with sweating from the armpit but does not help with excessive sweating of hands and feet. It is a safe but temporary solution, lasting a few weeks.