Anhidrosis is a condition in which your sweat glands don't function as they should to remove heat and cool your body down. An overheated body can be a dangerous situation and even life-threatening.
People born with some types of ectodermal dysplasia may be born with few sweat glands and the ones they have may not work normally. They don't sweat normally. This condition is called hypohidrosis. In our new library article about sweat glands and ectodermal dysplasias, pediatric dermatologist, Dr.
Sweating is normal and just about everyone does it. Some people, however, do it more or less than others. A complete absence of sweating is called anhidrosis. It can occur in particular areas of the body or be global – where more than 80% of the body has no ability to sweat.
Although excessive sweating is an embarrassing problem, an inability to sweat is potentially lethal, as it impairs the body's ability to regulate temperature and increases susceptibility to heatstroke. Anhidrosis can have several causes, including genetic, in which case the sweat glands are either deformed or missing.
ABCC11: the “no body odor gene”
Genetic variants that cause a loss of function of the ABCC11 gene are very common among East Asian ethnicities (80-90% of the population). In other population groups, it is rare to have no body odor.
Anhidrosis that affects a small part of your body usually isn't a problem and doesn't need treatment. But large areas of decreased perspiration can be life-threatening.
Anhidrosis
Anhidrosis can make people feel unusually hot because sweating is essential for cooling the body down and preventing overheating. People may have anhidrosis if they notice a lack of sweating when exercising or when hot. A doctor can carry out a sweat test to see if a person has anhidrosis.
According to Accetta, dehydration could be the culprit. He explained, “While sweat level definitely varies person to person, most of the time when somebody isn't sweating it's because of dehydration. The body isn't full of fluids, so it's trying to hold on to whatever it has.”
Not sweating enough can bring on some potentially serious health risks. If hypohidrosis affects a large portion of your body and prevents proper cooling, then vigorous exercise, hard physical work, or hot weather can cause heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or even heatstroke.
You can burn calories and lose weight without sweating. For example, swimming is great for burning calories, but you don't sweat while in the water. You might not sweat during every strength training session. Ultimately, losing weight comes down to calories in and calories out.
The outcome of patients with anhidrosis depends on the cause. There is no cure for those with inherited disorders, and it is a lifelong issue. The outcomes may improve for those with acquired anhidrosis by improving the primary condition or removing the offending medication.
Treatment options for anhidrosis
Medications that have been reported to help include prednisolone, a corticosteroid and injection of a local anesthetic into the sympathetic nerve tissue in the neck. If the cause is unknown, treatment options are limited.
As it stands there is no science suggesting that humans are more likely to stop sweating as a result of increased adrenaline. In fact, Khoo suggests the opposite could be the case. “It doesn't quite make sense that an excess of adrenaline causes you to not sweat,” he explains.
What is anhidrosis? Anhidrosis is a condition in which you can't sweat (perspire) normally in one or more areas of your body. Sweating helps remove heat from your body so you can cool down. If you can't sweat, your body overheats, which can be dangerous and even life-threatening.
Harlequin syndrome is a rare dysautonomic syndrome caused by the unilateral blockade of the T2-T3 fibers carrying sudomotor and vasomotor supply to the face. It results in hemifacial discoloration with half of the flushed hyperemic face sharply differentiated in the midline from the other pale half.
While complications such as these are more common in those who have hypohidrosis or anhidrosis, they may occur in people who sweat normally, and it's important for everyone to be aware of the symptoms. A lack of sweating can predispose people to heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke, a medical emergency.
Although there is some controversy on the subject of "racial" variation in body odor, it is determined that African blacks probably produce the greatest amount of apocrine sweat, which is the known substrate for axillary odor.
Dry earwax, typical in East Asians and Native Americans, is light-colored and flaky, while earwax found in Caucasian and African groups is darker, wetter and, a new study shows, smellier.
The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe, where 97 percent or more of the people have it, and the dry form among East Asians, while populations of Southern and Central Asia are roughly half and half.
Word Origin for anhidrosis
from an- + Greek hidrōs sweat + -osis.
Sweating and body odor are common when you exercise or you're too warm. They're also common when you're feeling nervous, anxious or stressed. Unusual changes in sweating — either too much (hyperhidrosis) or too little (anhidrosis) — can be cause for concern. Changes in body odor also may signal a health problem.
Hypohidrosis or anhidrosis due to impaired sweat glands can be observed in patients with Sjögren's syndrome, progressive systemic sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.