HIDRADENITIS SUPPURATIVA; ABSCESS OF THE APOCRINE SWEAT GLANDS

Abstract

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic indolent inflammatory disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue characterized by the formation of abscesses and sinuses and involving selected sites of the cutaneous surface, such as the axillary, mammary, inguinal, genital and perianal regions. It has been known for many years that a peculiar type of sweat gland was situated in those regions of the skin in which the disease occurs. However, it was not until 1922, when Schiefferdecker¹ reported his studies on the apocrine glands, that the biologic significance of this modified type of sweat gland was determined. Involvement of only those regions of the cutaneous surface in which the apocrine glands are situated is more than coincidental, as it has been shown that this peculiar type of sweat gland is primarily involved in the suppurative process. As an entity, hidradenitis suppurativa has failed to receive proper recognition in current textbooks of