antibiotic/regrowing microbiome?
Hi Dr. Armpit,
Thank you so much for your work. It is really encouraging to know that research is being done on this. I have a question about regrowing the microbiome after using antibiotic cream. For a week I used the cream, no deodorant, washed once/day before applying antibiotic. There was still odor but less bad. However, after finishing the week it was better for a couple days, then back to normal (really, really bad. I can smell it through my mask and sometimes it's hard even to get the smell out of my hands after taking a shower). I have still been using mild soap and have used benzoyl peroxide soap twice. I'm wondering if maybe my microbiome was starting to improve and I destroyed the good bacteria by washing; or if having some odor even while using the antibiotic cream means that the bad bacteria were just too entrenched? This may not make any sense. I guess I'm wondering, is it worth retrying the experiment and not using any soap for the week after the antibiotic; or, if I didn't actually kill the bad bacteria with the antibiotic, would that just let them grow even more and make it worse?
If you have any space in a research trial, I would be very interested in participating if I were eligible. I am really desperate for something that works -- previously my skin was raw and it's going that way again, clothes ruined; I'm very limited socially, vocationally etc.
Hi, thanks for your feedback. Yes, it will definitely make sense to not use anything after the antibacterial soap. Up to a week of no washing, no soaps, no deodorants, nothing. Give the underarm microbiome all chances to re-establish and let the bacteria fight each other. Hopefully the good ones will prevail and dominate over the bad smelling ones. Best, Chris
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