If you live in a particularly warm or humid area, sweating can be a problem. Even if you don’t, if you have an excessive sweating problem anything from working out to keeping busy can become a cumbersome activity. You have to only buy certain types of deodorants. If it’s bad enough you can only get certain types of clothing with the right material so you won’t be able to see if you start sweating. Forget about wearing silk. The big problem comes when you start sweating just a little bit under the arms and you are wearing a shirt that shows it so you have to keep your arms down. But keeping your arms down all the time creates more heat which generates more sweat and the problem keeps growing. Literally. It’s a painful thing.
An excessive sweating problem is actually called hyperhidrosis. There are several treatments for hyperhidrosis available now ranging from hyperhidrosis products to botox to actual surgery depending on the severity of the situation. Let’s look at a few of the ways to stop hyperhidrosis.
- Iontophoresis
This is not quite as common as some of the other methods of treatment but it definitely needs a mention. Iontophoresis is done by delivering a medicine or chemical compound through the skin. It is sort of like an injection but doesn’t involve a needle. A small electric current is applied to the skin which contains an active agent as well as a solvent vehicle. There are positively and negatively charged chambers which work together to repel negetively charged species that might be in the skin. This should never be attempted at home or by yourself. Only a trained medical professional should be allowed to try out this technique on you. - Botox
Botulinum toxin injections, also known as botox, is very commonly used to treat an excessive sweating problem. The botox medicine is injected directly into the pores where the excessive sweating occurs and the botox acts will in essence, paralyze the pours so that they no longer can open and release sweat. The problem with this method is that the sweat is still in your body so it has to be released else where. Many times it can make a person urinate more frequently which is ideal. However, at times, an adverse reaction would be that they begin to sweat more in another area. For example, if you receive the botox in your hands, your back could start to sweat more as it looks for somewhere to release the water. - Antiperspirants
Excessive sweating problems can sometimes be handled by a strong antiperspirant depending on how bad the problem is. There are several over the counter deodorants that work. You should look for an antiperspirant which has 20% or more aluminum chloride in the ingredients. Wearing these kinds of antiperspirants daily can solve the sweating problem but only if the condition hasn’t progressed very far. Again, the sweat still has to go somewhere so you may find your self sweating in other areas or needing to urinate more often. - Surgery
ETS surgery, which stands for endoscopic therapy sympathectomy is usually used in a last case scenario because there are high risks of potential negative side effects from the surgery. During the surgery, surgeons will actually intercept the transmission of the nerve signals that come from the spinal cord and go to the sweat glands. This prevents the signals from, in essence, turning on the sweat glands. To do this, a lung must be collapsed so a camera can be inserted under the arm into the chest. It is done on both sides of the chest. However, there has been limited success so far and is a major surgery so most doctors do not recommend it. Having the surgery done on the hands has proved to be a lot more successful than other areas of the body. However, the more experienced the surgeon or doctor is, the higher their success rate usually is as well so if you can find a surgeon that has a lot of knowledge and also expertise on the issue, you may be in luck.
Sweating can be embarrassing, difficult to deal with, almost impossible to conceal and overall annoying. Being able to do something about it will be a huge relief.