What is Hyperhydrosis?
Hyperhydrosis is more commonly known as excessive sweating. It results from the nerves in your sweat glands being too sensitive and therefore over active. Normal sweat glands receive signals from your nerves to produce sweat to prevent you from overheating. In hyperhydrosis, these nerves are so sensitive that they produce more sweat than necessary. This can be uncomfortable and at times embarrassing. You may even find yourself avoiding wearing certain colours or materials which accentuate sweat patches.
How do you stop it?
Luckily, prescription injections can be used to reduce the activity of these sensitive sweat glands. Following a medical assessment, botulinum toxin is carefully injected at specific doses into the skin of the affected sites. This paralyses the sweat glands and stops them sweating completely. The results kick in after 3-14 days and last around 6 months in the armpits. Areas such as the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet last considerably less as these areas are more active. After treatment you can feel confident to wear whatever colours or materials you want without the fear of your sweat patches being discovered!
Does it make you sweat more everywhere else?
No- your armpits only make up about 2% of your total number of sweat glands. On average humans have between 2 to 4 million glands in total. By paralysing 2% of your glands the rest of your glands are not affected.