Dr. Armpit focuses on the science of body odour in the armpits, skin, clothes, laundry and washing machines. The goal is to find new ways to tackle body odor and to once and for all solve it. Very few research is done in this field. DrArmpit is a pioneer in finding solutions against the malodor generation. The research is supported by the Flemish Government, Research Foundation – Flanders, Ghent University and Belgian American Educational Foundation. DrArmpit is developing a probiotic deodorant to shift the underarm microbiome and to solve body odour. If you wish to know more about it, please subscribe below.

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Armpit bacteria

The forearm is the desert, the scalps are the cool woods and the armpit is the tropical rainforest.

Mary J Marples

Mary J Marples couldn’t have put it in a better way. The armpit is like the tropical rainforest, containing an enormous amount of bacteria. Although numbers of bacteria go very high, not a lot of different bacteria reside over there. The diversity of the axilla is rather low, compared to other skin sites such as the belly button and the hands. Therefore, some very dominant bacteria reside in the armpit. Most of the times, staphylococci or corynebacteria are the dominant bacterial strains. In the first case, this only results in a moderate –normal– body odor, while in the last case, this can give rise to an unpleasant smell.

Smelly armpits

Smelly armpits, axillary body odor or axillary osmidrosis is a condition in which an unpleasant odor emanates from the armpit region. This can significantly affect the subjects quality of life. It is moreover a taboo issue to talk about. It is generally not considered as a disease. In rare cases, axillary osmidrosis becomes a disease if it completely overpowers and interferes with the subjects life. Besides washing and using deodorants, there is not much that can be done about it. Our research team is trying to find solutions for body odor. We are unraveling the science of body odor.