I spotted this picture of actress Halle Berry on one of my favorite sites, Awfulplasticsurgery.com. The writer guessed that the cause of Halle’s armpit scar was a clogged sweat gland – and I agree based on the length of the scar.
Halle probably had a sebaceous cyst which is a very painful infection caused by the use of antiperspirants.
Without getting too technical, antiperspirants are plain bad for you and you should avoid using them. Here’s why: antiperspirants contain toxic aluminum-based compounds that clog the sweat glands in your armpits and interfere with the release of sebum from our sweat glands.
Sebum is that oily substance that waterproofs our skin and hair and protects them from drying out. If the sebum can’t get out of our sweat glands it creates a pocket full of sebum that sometimes gets infected and forms a cyst.
The pain from a large cyst is extremely intense and usually sends the sufferer running to their doctor for relief. Once you get to that point, the only solution is surgery to remove the cyst. The surgery itself is simple: same day, in and out. But in some cases the after effects can be debilitating and permanent. Some post surgical patients complain of numbness in their fingers and arm that never goes away.
This very painful condition can be prevented by avoiding the use of antiperspirants. This was your Medical Minute.
For more info on sebaceous cysts and antiperspirants, go here.
