Excessive underarm sweating is a medical condition known as primary Axillary Hyperhidrosis, which involves overactive sweat glands. Sweat is your body's temperature regulator. In primary Axillary Hyperhydrosis, sweating significantly exceeds the body's normal requirements for cooling.
People with Hyperhydrosis can produce a large amount of sweat. This means that the armpits may be constantly damp. This can cause embarrassment at work or socially, and it may make normal everyday activities more difficult to carry out. But it is not true that Hyperhydrosis causes body odour: the smell that some think is due to sweating is in fact caused by bacteria on the skin if the sweat remains on the skin. How long before the odour appears depends on the person and varies considerably.
Simple self-help measures you can take include:
- Choose clothing that will keep you cool. Natural fibres are cool but they absorb sweat and can remain damp; some synthetic fibres are warm but they take sweat away from the body by capillary action and feel dry.
- Keep your work environment cool and well aired.
- Avoid the food and drinks that trigger sweating; these will be different for everyone and you will probably know what causes problems for you but advice can be obtained for this.
- Stress, tension and anxiety are common problems for everyone, though people with Hyperhydrosis have the extra difficulties of coping with extreme sweating. Think about how you can reduce stress during the day: plan your activities carefully and make time to relax.
- Odour can be prevented by attention to personal hygiene (such as frequent showers); although this will not be convenient for people who constantly sweat, it is an effective and simple measure to take.
- Treatment from an expert with BOTOX®
BOTOX is recommended for the treatment of Hyperhydrosis. When small doses are injected into the skin, BOTOX® blocks the actions of the nerves that supply the sweat glands: this prevents the glands from producing sweat. The effects of treatment last for several months but eventually they will wear off and you will require a re-treatment.
Using a very fine needle, you will be injected with a small amount of solution of BOTOX® into 10 to 15 places about 1 cm apart and spread evenly in each armpit. Iodine and starch are used to show up areas where sweating is greatest and to show precisely where injections should be placed. A course of treatment takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
You should notice some change for the better within the first week after your treatment but full effect will take 2 to 3 weeks.
ferent people have different responses to treatment. In a clinical trial, the average reduction in sweat production one week after treatment was 87% and sweating was significantly reduced in 95% of patients.
BOTOX® has been used therapeutically for 20 years to treat a variety of medical conditions. It is approved in more than 75 countries. In fact, BOTOX® is one of the most widely researched medicines in the world. Dosing specific to treating excessive underarm sweating was approved by the FDA in 2004.
The effects of BOTOX® wear off over a period of several months. If you decide not to have more treatment there will be no lasting change in the areas treated and sweating will gradually return to the level it was before you started treatment. Many patients have treatments annually at the start of summer and it usually lasts until after Christmas. Between seven and 10 months. Isn't it unhealthy to stop sweating?
The key word for this condition is excessive. People who need BOTOX® for this condition have overactive sweat glands usually in their underarms but it can be feet, hands, face or genital area. BOTOX® neurotoxin injections temporarily stops production of sweat in the treated areas only. Sweat continues to be produced elsewhere, and the body's health is unaffected by treatment.
Your sweat doesn't go anywhere or get backed up, because the sweat simply isn't produced in the areas treated with BOTOX®. Remember, the rest of your body is free to release moisture normally. And if you were to stop BOTOX® treatment, the sweating function would return to normal with no effect at all.
Think of it this way: say your armpits were like water taps. Just because those taps were shut off for an extended period doesn't mean that water can't come out elsewhere in the plumbing. BOTOX® treatment is like that: it only affects the treated areas and is completely reversible within a months.
Patient Preparation
- Save the underarm area
- Astain from use of over-the-counter deodorants or antiperspirants for 24 hours prior to treatment
- Rest comfortably without exercise, hot beverages, etc., for approximately 30 minutes prior to treatment
The starch test
Paint area with iodine swab
Brush area with starch powder
Blue-black mark will identify the affected areas
Treatment complete
"I feel like the sweating is under control. I no longer have to change shirts several times a day."
Dominique M
"I no longer think about the things I'm wearing and if I have enough clothes to cover up something. It used to be constantly on my mind. Now it's not anymore."
Cate
"Sweating is not something that's controlling my daily routine anymore. Now I can do things like standing up in front of a group of people at work without having to look down to see if I'm sweating under my arms. Thankfully, BOTOX® treatments have helped me control my underarm sweating."
Trisha S
"I used to spend up to £ 150 per month replacing ruined clothing, dry cleaning my stained clothing and on treatments that didn't control my sweating. Now, I worry about my sweating a lot less and feel like my sweating is under control."
Laura L
The Medical term for Excessive Sweating is Hyperhidrosis. This can occur in many areas. Extreme sweating under the arms is called Severe Primary Axillary Hyperhidrosis and is the most common area to cause embarrassment.
