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Summer is finally here… the glorious season of long sunny days and hot lazy nights. It’s the time for skimpy bikinis, short skirts and tiny tops. Which all sound fabulous -unless of course you’re one of the many people who suffer from excessive sweating and body odor. This is a disorder that is fairly common and can cause the individual discomfort and great embarrassment. So how can this be treated? ASM reports…
Hyperhidrosis is a disorder characterised by excessive uncontrollable sweating in excess of the amount required to regulate body temperature. The cause of hyperhidrosis is not known. In some people the excessive sweating is associated with chronic offensive under arm odor. The reason for the offensive odor is attributed to sweat gland secretions (short-chained fatty acids and ammonia) reacting with bacteria on the skin surface. Another explanation to the odor could be a change in the chemical composition of the sweat.
Under-arm over sweating often begins at puberty and has a significant negative impact on social, professional, and emotional aspects of peoples’ lives.
A 2004 study of 150,000 households in the United States showed that the incidence of hyperhidrosis is approximately 2.8% of the population. It is estimated that hyperhidrosis effects over 8.5 million individuals in the U.S alone. Approximately 51% of these individuals suffer from under-arm hyperhidrosis of various degrees of severity.
Problem? No sweat…
Methods of treatment can be classified into non-surgical or surgical.
Non-surgical methods consist of injections of botulinum toxin type A (i.e. Botox)
Surgical treatments range from minimally invasive to full excision to nerve-severing surgery.
Botox requires 2-3 session of injections per year and is considered effective.
Liposuction of the sweat glands; curettage type of minimally invasive surgery is considered to be the state of art in the surgical treatment of under-arm Hyperhidrosis. This approach involves minimally invasive surgery associated with a minimal complication rate. The procedure is usually performed under local anaesthesia with deep sedation. Ambulatory (day basis) set up is adequate for the procedure. The liposuction cannula is employed to remove some of the sweat glands and reduce the remaining glands. Substantial improvement is the usual outcome. Recurrence rate of 2-20% has been reported.
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