Treatment of Axillary Osmidrosis by Rebalancing Skin Microecology With Lactobacillus bulgaricus

Pinglu Li; Shuyue Chen; Ping Li; Dan Xu; Xueyuan Tang; Junlin Liao; Hongju Xie; Gaofeng Li; Yehong Kuang; Juan Su; Shijie Tang; Jianda Zhou

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.821696

Treatment of Axillary Osmidrosis by Rebalancing Skin Microecology With Lactobacillus bulgaricus

Front Microbiol. 2022 Apr 14:13:821696. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.821696. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Pinglu Li¹, Shuyue Chen¹, Ping Li¹, Dan Xu¹, Xueyuan Tang², Junlin Liao³, Hongju Xie³, Gaofeng Li⁴, Yehong Kuang⁵, Juan Su⁵, Shijie Tang⁶, Jianda Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plastic Surgery, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
² Department of Oncology, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
³ Department of Medical Cosmetology, The First Affiliated Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, China.
⁴ Department of Plastic and Laser Cosmetic, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, Changsha, China.
⁵ Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁶ Cleft Lip and Palate Treatment Center, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.

Abstract

Corynebacterium accounts for around 20% of the armpit microbiome and plays an essential role in axillary osmidrosis (AO). In this study, the effects of Lactobacillus bulgaricus treatment on the microecological environment of armpits and its efficacy in the treatment of AO were investigated. A total of 10 AO patients were enrolled in this study. The patients were treated with L. bulgaricus mixed with saline on the left armpit (experimental group) and pure saline on the right armpit (control group) for 28 days. After treatment, AO severity showed a significant decrease (p = 0.013) in the experimental group compared with the control group, and the Corynebacterium abundance also showed a corresponding significant decrease (p < 0.01). Moreover, no significant variation in Staphylococcus abundance was found between these two groups. The microbe diversity is not disturbed in the treatment. Accordingly, our study demonstrates that L. bulgaricus can serve as an effective probiotic microbe for AO treatment by reducing the abundance of Corynebacterium and rebalancing the microecological environment.

Keywords: Lactobacillus; axillary osmidrosis; microecological; probiotics; treatment.