Millions of people suffer with excessive sweating, a condition known as Hyperhidrosis. It interferes with their daily lives, often causes embarrassment, and can lead to a reduced quality of life.
In general, Hyperhidrosis means excessive sweating — sweating far in excess of the needs of the body — and it’s basically continuously produced with no apparent cause. You can break it into two types: primary and secondary. Through a good history and physical, you can exclude all other causes and know what you’re dealing with. With primary Hyperhidrosis, there is no underlying medical reason and no apparent cause for this excessive sweating.
Hyperhidrosis also causes actual physical discomfort because the continuously wet shoes and clothing can lead to skin breakdown and fungal infections. It causes social issues when they have completely sopping wet underarms. They have to change multiple shirts a day; they won’t shake hands or hold hands because it’s so embarrassing. Overall, if you put all of this together, it leads to a diminished quality of life.
The quality of life surveys from people with Hyperhidrosis are comparable to people with end-stage kidney disease on dialysis or rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. For the individual, it can be pretty devastating.
There are many treatment options available and each one has its own specific risk/benefit ratio. Which treatment to use really depends on how severe the symptoms are? There are several treatment options ranging from non-invasive to surgical. There are prescription antiperspirants, medicines, Botox injections and other options.
In general, Hyperhidrosis means excessive sweating — sweating far in excess of the needs of the body — and it’s basically continuously produced with no apparent cause. You can break it into two types: primary and secondary. Through a good history and physical, you can exclude all other causes and know what you’re dealing with. With primary Hyperhidrosis, there is no underlying medical reason and no apparent cause for this excessive sweating.
Hyperhidrosis also causes actual physical discomfort because the continuously wet shoes and clothing can lead to skin breakdown and fungal infections. It causes social issues when they have completely sopping wet underarms. They have to change multiple shirts a day; they won’t shake hands or hold hands because it’s so embarrassing. Overall, if you put all of this together, it leads to a diminished quality of life.
The quality of life surveys from people with Hyperhidrosis are comparable to people with end-stage kidney disease on dialysis or rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. For the individual, it can be pretty devastating.
There are many treatment options available and each one has its own specific risk/benefit ratio. Which treatment to use really depends on how severe the symptoms are? There are several treatment options ranging from non-invasive to surgical. There are prescription antiperspirants, medicines, Botox injections and other options.