Hidradenitis Suppurativa Axillaris

Hidradenitis suppurativa is an inflammatory disease which has a predilection for certain regions of the body, such as the axillae, groins, breasts, and perianal area. It occurs more frequently than is generally recognized, and is often diagnosed as abscess, furunculosis, or carbuncle. By far the most common site is the axilla. It is with hidradenitis suppurativa axillaris that this report is mainly concerned. It is based on a series of 58 cases seen in the past ten years. Almost a century ago this entity was first recognized by Verneuil (1), a French surgeon, who clinically associated the abscesses with the apocrine sweat glands. In contradistinction to the eccrine or ordinary sweat glands, which are derived from the epidermis and are distributed over almost the entire surface of the body, the apocrine glands originate from the hair follicles which develop with puberty and are commonly found in the skin of the axillae, mammae, genitalia, perianal and inguinal regions. Histologically, the apocrine sweat gl...