Comparison of Treatment Effect between Superficial Suction and Subdermal Excision in Osmidrosis

ABSTRACT

Osmidrosis develops in many young people due to the apocrine gland becoming active after the adolescent period and can cause difficulty in social activities and personal relationships. We compared 2 surgical treatment methods for osmidrosis, superficial suction and subdermal excision, to determine how many of apocrine glands could be removed and examine if a significant difference was present in treatment outcome. The subjects used for the present study included 62 patients of whom 46 patients underwent subdermal excision and 16, superficial suction. We counted the total number of apocrine glands in tissue samples obtained using those 2 methods, fixed in formalin and treated with usual histologic treatment. We calculated the number of apocrine glands per unit area by measuring the axillary area of the surgery site determined before surgery. The patients who underwent surgery using those 2 methods were divided into satisfactory group and unsatisfactory group by evaluating the results subjectively and objectively after surgery. The satisfactory rate was 95.7% in 46 patients who underwent subdermal excision and 81.25% in 16 patients who underwent superficial suction. An average of 127.82 apocrine glands/ cm2 were removed through subdermal excision and 72.71 apocrine glands/cm2, through superficial suction. We determined that more apocrine glands were removed with a statistical significance using subdermal excision. However, considering the result that 81.25% satisfactory rate was seen despite 57% of apocrine glands being removed with superficial suction compared with subdermal excision, superficial suction would be also effective in reducing the number of apocrine glands to below a threshold.