Posts Tagged ‘Excessive Sweating’
Palmar Hyperhidrosis
Excessive hand sweating, or otherwise known as palmar hyperhidrosis, can be quite severe that it affects one’s daily normal activities. For most people who suffer from palmar hyperhidrosis, their condition does not only affect them functionally, but psychologically and socially as well.
Sweating is a natural body function to cool the body, but uncontrolled sweating, as in the case of palmar hyperhidrosis, may hamper work-related activities (typing, writing, handling papers, grasping objects, etc.). Ordinary and easy tasks like putting on make-up, buttoning a shirt, and cutting fingernails become extremely difficult. What’s worse is that initiating social contact and maintaining relationships become very uncomfortable as well.
In most cases, hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating has no known cause. While symptoms usually occur after puberty and continue through one’s entire life, it may have started since childhood for some. And in such cases, the condition may have a hereditary cause. Other contributory factors to this condition are emotional distress, anxiety, nervousness, or stress. Surprisingly, for some people, using a harmless skin product such as a skin lotion can also aggravate hand sweating.
Physical activity or a heightened emotional state stimulates the sympathetic nerve system, and adrenaline is sent into the blood system. The adrenaline signals the increase of heart rate and blood pressure, and sweat glands produce sweat to regulate the body’s temperature as a result. This is normal.
But for about 0.1% to 0.2% of the population, these physiological body processes are exaggerated which makes them sweat excessively (regardless of the room temperature), sometimes at unlikely times (even when sleeping!). A hypersympathetic activity of the body best explains excessive sweating for no apparent cause.
Those who suffer from severe palmar hyperhidrosis have cold, wet hands that drip with sweat, which are often causes of embarrassment. They are conscious of their condition and try to hide it from others, either by wiping or hiding their hands behind their pockets. They usually dread handshakes or hand contact. In the long run, all these frustrations build up, and could even lead to social withdrawal.
A treatment option available for those who suffer from excessive hand sweating or palmar hyperhidrosis is thoroscopic sympathectomy. It’s actually a surgical procedure, which involves cutting of a nerve found in the chest. It’s also a treatment for reflect sympathetic dystrophy and hand vascular diseases. However, many are apprehensive with sympathectomy as a viable solution to their condition because of fear of compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH).
Compensatory hyperhidrosis, which occurs after surgery, is a condition where other (non-treated) body parts (e.g. back and trunk) sweat excessively to compensate for the reduced sweating in the treated body part (e.g. palms or armpit). Although there may be reported incidents of CH from patients who have undergone sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis, much has yet to be explored by medical researchers to substantiate the occurrence.
Those who suffer from palmar hyperhidrosis in addition to other medical conditions like hyperthyroidism, menopause or obesity, sympathectomy treatment is not advised. Similarly, individuals suffering from tuberculosis may not be allowed to undergo this treatment.
Excessive Underarm Sweating
Excessive underarm sweating, or known in medical literature as primary axillary hyperhidrosis is one of the most common types of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).
Sweating is a natural response of the body to regulate its internal temperature. Sweating happens when the body is exposed to a warm environment, when one is engaged in physical activity, and when anxious or stressed. But excessive sweating for no apparent reason can be embarrassing. In the case of axillary hyperhidrosis, underarm sweat leaves a visible stain on clothes, and often, the underarms are damp and sticky.
There are two types of glands found in the armpit area – the apocrine and eccrine glands. Of the two, the eccrine glands are the ones mostly responsible for producing underarm sweat. Numerous eccrine glands are also found in the entire body, which likewise cause perspiration when the glands are stimulated. Whenever the eccrine glands are stimulated to produce sweat, body cells secrete a fluid that travels the coiled portion of the gland up through the straight duct before it breaks out onto the skin surface.
If you suffer from excessive underarm sweating, a dermatologist can best diagnose the severity of your condition. Be ready to discuss with your dermatologist your medical background, your family’s medical history, and when you first experienced severe underarm sweating. Don’t hesitate to tell your dermatologist how your condition affects you. The extent to which severe hyperhidrosis is affecting your normal day-to-day activities can be measured through a self-assessment questionnaire called Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS). Your honest self-assessment report should help your doctor determine the best options available for you.
In most cases, excessive underarm sweating can be effectively managed by using topical agents such as deodorants and antiperspirants. Deodorants act to control bad odor, while antiperspirants slow down the production of sweat by the glands in the armpit area.
The most common active ingredient in anti-perspirants (and deodorants) is aluminum chloride. According to Dr. Eric Hanson of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Dermatology, the aluminum ions (from antiperspirants) are absorbed by the cell linings of the eccrine gland ducts found at the opening of the top skin layer (epidermis). These ions are drawn into the cell along with water until it swells, squeezing the ducts closed such that sweat can’t pass out. A cell can only absorb so much fluid, or until it reaches its equilibrium. At this time, the water will have to revert back out of the cell through a process called osmosis, and swelling will subside. When this happens, anti-perspirants may be re-applied.
As a point of reference, over-the-counter antiperspirants usually have 10 to 25% concentration of the active ingredient (aluminum chloride). While the FDA requires no more than 15 to 25% of the active ingredient in antiperspirants, it should decrease sweating by at least 20%. Obviously, no prescription topical agents or antiperspirants are available in the market that has a higher percentage of concentration of the active ingredient than that allowed by the FDA. It is still best to discuss other alternative treatments available with your doctor if over-the-counter antiperspirants prove ineffective for you.
Some people who excessively sweat may need higher concentrations of aluminum chloride to prolong the swelling of the cells and eventually shrink the sweat glands so that they don’t produce sweat than is really necessary.
Iontophoresis Hyperhidrosis
Iontophoresis is the procedure of passing an ionized substance through intact skin through the use of a direct electrical current. It’s a common treatment for hyperhidrosis, and a variation, tap water iontophoresis, is used by many dermatologists to treat the hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) of the palms and soles. Treating axillary hyperhidrosis through tap water iontophoresis is more difficult to administer, but still possible. Clinicians also use iontophoreiss to administer drugs such as anticholinergics to areas affected by the skin condition.
To date, there are two types of iontophoresis devices that are currently seeing use in the United States: (1) The Drionic Iontophoresis unit, and (2) the Fischer Model MD-1a Iontophoresis unit. These two iontophoresis devices have received approval for treating hyperhidrosis from the United States Food and Drug Administration.
The use of electricity to treat human diseases has been studied for more than two centuries, not long after its discovery in the 18th century. It’s been mentioned in a few studies that Pivati introduced the use of iontophoresis in the treatment of arthritis in the 1740’s. Further studies in the following two hundred years have confirmed the efficiency of the procedure in administering drugs through a patient’s skin.
The use of iontophoresis to treat hyperhidrosis gained popularity in the 20th century:
1936 – Ichikasa realized that drugs administered through iontophoresis resulted in reduced sweating activity in the affected area.
1940’s – In a study independent from Ichikasa’s, Takata and Shelley successfully obtained anhidrosis (the reverse of hyperhidrosis) through iontophoresis with tap water.
1968 – Levit published his ideas on a practical device that administered iontophoresis to patients, further boosting the procedure’s popularity.
Studies have also shown that the skin’s sweat glands provide the least amount of electrical resistance during an iontophoresis procedure, indicating that drugs mainly enter the patient’s skin through these channels. While iontophoresis have been used by dermatologists in attempts to treat other medical conditions (such as scleroderma and vitiligo), hyperhidrosis seems to be the only medical condition readily treated by the procedure, owing to its widespread popularity and high success rate.
Iontophoresis delivers a charged molecule across the skin. This is done by placing it near an electrode of the same charge as itself, while another electrode of opposite charged is placed on another part of the body. While this explains how drugs are transported across the skin, it does not explain how tap water iontophoresis reduces sweat output. Exactly how this is done is still a mystery, although several theories have been suggested.
One early theory suggested that iontophoresis plugged sweat gland ducts, since iatrogenic miliaria developed when iontophoresis was administered on the back, chest, or arms of patients. Microscopic analysis did show keratin plugs blocking sweat ducts, but light and electron microscopy found no such blockages in a patient treated for palmar hyperhidrosis.
It would seem that iontophoresis may cause an impairment in a sweat gland’s function instead of a blockage. Other theories suggest that the procedure raises the threshold for transmission of sympathetic nerve impulse, or that it changes the physiology of cellular secretory system. Neurotransmitter levels in the eccrine gland or surrounding microciruclation remain unchanged after iontophoresis, however, so the subject still remains open to debate.
Iontophoresis treatment regimens vary with the device used, the areas of the body to be treated, and whether the procedures will be done at home or at the clinic.
Overactive Sweat Glands
Excessive sweating at night is called sleep hyperhidrosis, more commonly known as “night sweats.” An individual suffering from night sweats may also experience excessive sweating during the day, although this is not always the case.
Sleep hyperhidrosis can affect anyone regardless of age, but it is more commonly seen in early adulthood (when sweat glands have become more active). Generally, sleep hyperhidrosis is safe, except that it causes distress and discomfort during sleep. It disrupts normal sleep patterns when one is frequently awakened due to drenched sleepwear and sheets.
Research shows that occurrence of excessive sweating is due to some genetic factors. Biology plays a role as well. For instance, women over 40 affected by menopause (or perimenopause) related hormonal changes, can suffer from night sweats. Similarly, pregnant women can experience night sweats due to hormonal changes. In both cases, excessive sweating shouldn’t be a cause for alarm, or be seen as a symptom of an underlying medical condition.
How does one know if excessive perspiration is actually caused by an underlying medical condition? Obviously, one sweats more in a warm environment, during exercise or in response to situations that elicit strong emotions – situations that make them nervous, angry, embarrassed or anxious. Thus, diligent efforts should be taken in keeping the place cool, well ventilated, and clean. Wearing of cool, comfortable sleepwear is also important. Certain foods and drinks that trigger the body to perspire more should be avoided. It also helps to reduce stress, or if at all possible, stay away from stressful situations. Try to control or eliminate all these external factors first. If severe “hot flashes” still occur then, it should be wise to seek medical attention.
Sweat glands release salty liquid through the process of perspiration. It’s a normal and essential body process controlled by the sympathetic nervous system to remove toxins from the body and to regulate body temperature. Perspiration usually occurs under the arms, on the feet, and on the palms of the hand. In some cases, sweating may occur around the face, or worse, all over the body. One is born with about two to four million sweat glands, and not until puberty do these glands become fully active. Interestingly, women have more sweat glands. Men may have fewer sweat glands than women, but their glands are more active.
If sweating gets out of control and become a source of distress and discomfort, several treatment options are available. There are some oral medications to choose from, but patients sometimes complain of certain side effects. Some experience dry mouth, drowsiness, and urinary retention. In the case of “hot flashes” caused by menopause, hormonal treatment will suffice to control the condition. There are also medical procedures that could help relieve the patient from this condition for more lasting results. A unique treatment is the use of electrical current (iontophoresis) to control the activity of the sweat glands. A device known as Drionic is used daily for seven days and results of the procedure last for up to one month. For chronic cases, surgical procedure will have to be done to remove some of the overactive sweat glands.
Overactive Sweat Glands
Hyperhidrosis , or commonly known as excessive sweating, is a medical condition caused by overactive sweat glands. It’s normal for anyone suffering from a fever, is under anxiety, or in a warm environment to perspire heavily. But if one perspires day and night, for no apparent reason, then it could be a manifestation of either a disorder of the sweat glands or of the sympathetic nervous system. Both the sweat glands and the sympathetic nervous system control the amount of perspiration released by the body, and any irregularities in their functions will naturally lead to a chronic condition such as hyperhidrosis. Excessive sweating could also be an underlying symptom of a thyroid problem or other medical conditions.
One solution to this problem with the sweat glands can be treated by a thoracic surgical procedure, with other non-invasive treatments also being available. Surgical procedures are done only in severe cases to control the sweat glands. Otherwise, non-surgical treatments will do.
Excessive sweating often occurs in the hands, feet, armpits, face and even in the groin area. But it can also occur in other parts of the body where there are overactive sweat glands. In some cases, the whole body is affected (causing general excessive sweating). Affected areas may have a white, cracked, and soft appearance, and is often accompanied with an odorous smell that is actually caused by bacteria.
Sweat Gland Disorder
Sweating is a natural body process that helps cool the body. Needless to say, one sweats more in a warm environment, when engaged in rigorous activity, and during exercise. Those caught in embarrassing, stressful, and anxious situations are likely to perspire as well – but only at that very moment. If one sweats excessively for no apparent reason, regardless of the time of day, then hyperhidrosis could be the culprit.
Overactive sweat glands are the primary cause of hyperhidrosis. But it is unknown as to why sweat glands in certain body parts become overactive. This condition, although relatively harmless, causes much physical and emotional discomfort, as it concerns all aspects of life. It impacts daily living, normal interpersonal relations and social interactions. It can get in the way of an individual’s work and related professional activities. It’s simply an uncontrollable and embarrassing ailment that will persist until medical intervention takes place.
There are, however, various treatments available such as: the drysol method and botox treatment. The drysol method can cause some side effects in more sensitive individuals, but is generally tolerated by many. Botox injections are usually effective for some cases of excessive sweating.
One common type of excessive sweating is the primary or focal hyperhydrosis. Primary refers to the specific condition in which the hands, feet, and armpits are affected by excessive sweating. 2 to 3% of the population is affected by this type of excessive sweating. But out of this figure, only less than 40% of patients seek medical help and intervention.
For the majority of primary hyperhidrosis cases, a cause can’t usually be found. Although research shows that this disorder seems to run in families, with the condition having a genetic basis.


