6 Reasons Your Hands Smell and How to Stop the Stink

Most of us bring our fingers or hands up to our faces countless times a day without even realizing it. But you might take notice if your hands have a funky odor.

Bad or weird hand smells are usually temporary and tend to clear up on their own. “Hands and fingernails tend to pick up odors simply because they’re touching different things,” says Miami-based board-certified dermatologist Anna Chacon, MD.

Some foods, drinks, and medications can lead to increased body odor in general — hands included. Less commonly, unpleasant smells can develop due to an underlying medical condition.

Here are six possible causes of hand odor and what to do about them.

1. You Touched Something Stinky

Pungent foods like onion or garlic have a strong sulfur smell that can linger on your hands after you handle them, Dr. Chacon says.

Contact odors typically go away on their own, but you might be able to speed up the process by rubbing your hands with a stainless-steel object (like a fork, spoon, or faucet) or a stainless-steel odor-absorbing bar, Chacon says.

2. It’s Something You Ate or Drank

Strong-smelling foods or drinks — like garlic, onion, curries, and alcohol — don’t just tend to linger on your breath. Compounds from the foods can also be excreted through sweat glands that are present all over the body, including on your palms, says Beth Goldstein, MD, adjunct clinical professor of dermatology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And when the sweat mixes with bacteria on your skin, you might start to get some funky whiffs.

You should notice the smell lessen as the food or drink passes farther into your digestive tract and eventually leaves your system. But if you want to stop your hands from reeking in the meantime, sudsing up with an antibacterial soap can help. Other options include cleaning your hands with:

• White vinegar
• Baking soda
• Salt scrub
• Lemon juice

With any hand-cleaning treatment, it’s important not to overdo it or scrub excessively, which can cause irritant dermatitis or tissue injury.

3. You Started a New Medication

• ‌Cholinesterase inhibitors‌ used to treat Alzheimer’s and dementia, including Aricept, Exelon, and Razadyne
• ‌Opioids‌ used to treat pain, such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin
• ‌Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors‌ (SSRIs) used to treat depression and anxiety, including Lexapro, Prozac, and Zoloft
• ‌Tricyclic antidepressants‌ used to treat conditions that include depression and OCD, such as Elavil, Norpramin, and Pamelor

Penicillin is another common culprit, Goldstein says. While it doesn’t make you sweat more, its compounds can still be excreted through sweat glands all over the body, causing an odor when the sweat mixes with your skin’s bacteria.

Washing with an antibacterial soap can help you combat odors caused by short-term meds like a course of penicillin. But if you’re dealing with hand odor caused by a drug that’s been prescribed for long-term use, talk to your doctor. It may be possible to adjust your dose or to try a different medication.

4. You’re a Heavy Sweater

Bromhidrosis isn’t caused by poor hygiene, but not washing often enough can make the problem worse. If the problem seems to affect your hands in particular, frequent sudsing with an antibacterial soap may be helpful.

5. You Have Nail Fungus

Noticing a footlike smell on your hands? If the funk seems to linger around your nails in particular, you could be dealing with nail fungus, or what doctors call onychomycosis. “Oftentimes it smells like rotten cheese,” Chacon says.

In some cases, an over-the-counter antifungal treatment can effectively fight the fungus, though it can take months to see results. Soaking in white vinegar is a common home treatment. But stubborn fungal infections might need prescription topical or oral antifungal drugs. A dermatologist can determine the best course of treatment for you.

6. You Have an Underlying Health Condition

If you suspect a medical condition is behind your smelly hands, see your doctor, who can make a diagnosis and create a treatment plan. Pitted keratolysis is treated with a topical antibiotic to remove the bacteria.

The Takeaway

• An unpleasant smell on your hands that sticks around for a day or two likely isn’t cause for concern, especially if you touched or ate something with a strong odor.
• Aside from touching something, certain medications can cause excessive sweating, which can lead to body odor.
• If you’re dealing with hand or body odor that you can’t explain or that doesn’t seem to be easing up, call your doctor. The intense smell could be a sign of an underlying medical condition that needs to be addressed.