For the past 6 months or so I have noticed
my hands smell different in the morning.
I thought it was my imagination so I asked
my husband if he could smell my hands. He
thought I was pretty funny, but he did
smell my hands and was surprized. He
thought I had something on them or had cut
an onion up the night before and had that
lingering odor.
What the heck is this? I am not exactly
worried but I am concerned that this could
be a precursor to something else. Has
anyone ever heard of such a thing?
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alliedog
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 2 Location: East Coast
Smelly Hands Posted: 02-03-07 07:36am
Over the past several years, I have
noticed the same symptoms you described.
However, I have also noticed that the
smell occurs through out the winter for me
and tends to disappear in the summer
months where humidity is high here. The
reason I point this out is that my hands
are very dry in winter months and I am
constantly fighting the cracked skin with
lotion or ointments. I have come to the
conclusion (after a class in microbiology)
that the smell must be due to bacteria
that breakdown the dead and skin give off
chemicals in the process. Same process
as underarm or foot odor.
Our skin typically has bacteria residing
on it, just like you have them in your
intestines, and they perform nessecary
functions like breakdown of toxins. I
think the fact that the skin on my hands
is so dry causes a "bloom" of these
bacteria because there is so much for them
to feast on. I have also noticed that
using hand cream before bedtime makes it
worse - not sure why that is though.
