New Electronic Armpit Device Uses Plasma To Make Deodorant Obsolete

If you’ve ever assumed it’s your sweat that smells, it’s time to think again. The real culprit behind body odor isn’t the moisture itself but the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced when certain bacteria break down the fatty acids in your sweat. Now, in a move that could change the way we approach personal hygiene, a new device called PlaDeo has been developed to tackle this issue, and it does so without using any traditional deodorants or antiperspirants.

Created by Dr. TaeHo Lim and Dr. JungChi Seo at Hanyang University in South Korea, PlaDeo (short for “plasma deodorant”) offers a futuristic approach to odor control. Rather than masking smells or clogging pores, it eliminates the bacteria responsible for producing them, using cold atmospheric plasma.

The PlaDeo is not your average hygiene gadget. It’s based on a simple but effective scientific principle: eliminate the source of odor, not just the symptoms. The device works by emitting ionized gas that creates reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are known for their ability to destroy bacterial cell walls and chemically degrade existing VOCs. This means it not only kills the microbes like Staphylococcus hominis and Corynebacterium xerosis, which are major contributors to underarm odor, but also breaks down the molecules that actually cause the smell.

To use it, you simply hold the device under your clean, dry armpit while a silicone gasket maintains a 1-centimeter gap between the device and your skin. This buffer zone is crucial, as it allows the ROS to do their job without damaging your own skin cells. Pressing and holding the power button activates a 1.5-minute plasma cycle, and for those who deal with more persistent odor, holding the button a second time extends the treatment to three minutes. The result, according to the developers, is all-day freshness without needing to apply any deodorant at all.

And for extra peace of mind, you can always run the device again before a meeting or social event — no chemical residues, no skin irritation, and no artificial scents involved. As the inventors explain, “No pore-clogging, potentially skin-irritating deodorant is necessary.”

Battery life is another practical plus. The PlaDeo can run for around 2.5 hours per charge, which covers multiple sessions before needing to plug it in again. Though the science behind it may sound cutting-edge, the user experience is meant to be simple and accessible.

To support the device’s claims, a clinical study conducted in October 2023 tested the PlaDeo on 33 participants from 19 different countries, all of whom were regular deodorant users and had previously considered medical treatment for excessive body odor. According to self-assessments, a remarkable 94% of them reported a significant reduction or complete elimination of armpit odor. Additional laboratory testing confirmed that using the device for three minutes killed over 90% of the targeted bacteria.

This innovation didn’t emerge out of nowhere. An earlier version of the device, called the Pragant, won an Innovation Award at CES 2020, signaling that the technology had strong potential even in its early stages. Now refined and rebranded as PlaDeo, the technology is being brought to the public through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

The company behind the product, CodeSteri Inc, is offering early backers a discounted rate of $149, ahead of the planned retail price of $249.

The research findings were formally published in the journal Scientific Reports.