Sweat glands produce sweat to cool the body and are found all over except for certain areas. There are two types of sweat glands, eccrine and apocrine, with the latter responsible for body odor.
Sweat glands are tubes where sweat is produced and then transported to the skin’s surface. Many people find sweat to be rather unpleasant, but it serves an important purpose. Also called perspiration, perspiration serves to cool the body. To perform this purpose well, sweat glands are distributed all over the body, with the exception of places such as the lips, parts of the genitals and nipples of a person. In all, each person typically has more than two million sweat glands.
Each gland consists of a hollow tube, which is long and coiled into a ball at its base. The coiled base of the gland is found in the dermis, which is the second layer of skin. A person’s sweat is produced in this coiled part of the gland. Then, the long section of the gland extending from the coiled portion, often referred to as the duct, allows perspiration to move from the base to the skin’s surface. However, in order for sweat to exit the gland and reach the skin, it needs an opening through which it can move; this opening is called a pore, which is a tiny hole in the skin.
The human body has two different types of sweat glands. First, there are the eccrine glands, which are the most common type. They are found all over the body, especially on the forehead, neck, back, palms and feet of a person. These glands produce sweat when a person becomes overheated due to external heat, fever, exercise, and even emotional upset. The sweat glands in the palms and soles of the feet are particularly prone to react in stressful situations.
The apocrine glands, on the other hand, are a little different. The end points of these glands are not usually pores; instead, these glands terminate in hair follicles. As such, they are usually concentrated in areas that have hair, such as the underarms, around the anus, and the external genital areas. These glands respond primarily to emotional stress of some kind and also produce sweat when a person is upset or sexually aroused.
Interestingly, the apocrine glands may be responsible for much of a person’s body odor after forgetting their deodorant or after strenuous exercise. This is because the secretions from these glands have a scent. In fact, the apocrine glands are sometimes called scent glands.
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