Help! I sweat… ALOT
It is called hyperhidrosis
Hyperhidrosis is a medical term for excessive sweating. This can affect many parts of the body but most commonly the armpits, palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It affects 3-5% of the population and can be extremely distressing having a major impact on their lives.
How do I know if I have hyperhidrosis?
Hyperhidrosis usually starts during puberty. Sufferers often have to change their clothing several times a day, and many choose to only wear black as this disguises the problem the best. It not only causes the patient distress but may also affect their daily interactions – for example many people associate sweaty palms with anxiety. Many hyperhidrosis suffers report these sorts of associations have caused them difficulty with both business and social interactions. In severe cases it can even cause problems with gripping pens and wearing open-toe shoes.
What can help? BOTOX.
When treating the armpits, some practitioners will perform a starch-iodine test to demonstrate the area where the sweating is worst. The area of worst sweating shown up is almost always the area where the hair growth is, and therefore we feel the test has minimal use. Nevertheless if we are unable to see the area of your hair growth we may perform the starch-iodine test to guide us.
When treating the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet we apply local anaesthetic cream for a full hour prior to treatment. This is because these areas are very sensitive and treatment can prove very painful. Even with the local anaesthetic cream the procedure in these areas will still be rather uncomfortable. Treatment of the armpits is normally tolerated well without local anaesthetic cream, although may still be a little uncomfortable.
Each side will normally be treated with around 30 individual injections made with a tiny needle.
Disclaimer: Please be aware that results and benefits may vary from patient to patient taking into consideration factors such as age, lifestyle and medical history.
