Ask Your Pharmacist

 

Hyperhidrosis (Heavy Sweating) (Part 3)

Eamonn Brady is a pharmacist and the owner of Whelehans Pharmacy, Pearse St, Mullingar. If you have any health questions e-mail them to info@whelehans.ie

This is the final of my three articles on hyperhidrosis (better known as heavy sweating). This week I discuss options if the treatments I discussed last week do not work adequately.

Surgery

There are a number of other surgical options available if lifestyle changes, botox or medication do not work. Some of these are not available in Ireland so you would have to travel to the UK to undertake.

 

VATS

Video-assisted thoracic sympathectomy (VATS) is the most popular type of surgery to treat hyperhidrosis. VATS is generally restricted to cases where hyperhidrosis has not been eased by other treatment options. VATs consists of a surgeon making a small incision on each side chest and removing some of the nerves that extend from the sympathetic nervous system to sweat glands. VATS can treat excess sweating of the armpits, face and hands. VATS is considered moderately successful in relieving hyperhidrosis though the risk of side effects can be off putting.

 

Excess sweating in another part of the body (most commonly the lower back or upper thighs) is the most common side effect. This is called compensatory sweating. There are some other possible side effects of VATS. About 1 in 20 people who undergo VATs suffer from sweating of the face and neck after eating food. Phantom sweating which is an unusual sensation where a person feels like they are about to sweat but actually do not sweat. Phantom sweating affects less than half of people who undergo VATS but generally eases with time. Other possible complications of VATs include becoming more sensitive to cold, taste sensation changes and hands becoming dry. .

 

Removing sweat glands

Shelley's procedure is a newer procedure used to treat excess sweating under the arms.This procedure takes around an hour and is done under local anaesthetic. The plastic surgeon makes a 3mm incision in the sweat glands in the armpit to carefully remove them.A dressing is worn over the area for a few days until it heals. Normal exercise and physical activity is possible again after a few weeks.This procedure has less complications than VAT.

 

Retrodermal curettage

Retrodermal curettage (for use on the axillas such as hands and feet only) is not performed as often but it has long term success in about two thirds of patients.

 

Laser sweat ablation (LSA)

This is where a laser is used to destroy sweat glands located in the armpit. It is known to cause less scarring compared to other surgical techniques.

 

Body jet liposuction

Body jet liposuction is the newest and perhaps most effective treatment to date for hyperhidrosis. A narrow jet of water is used to dislodge sweat glands from under the skin under local anaesthetic; resulting in a “cell gel” which is then lipo-suctioned away with little scarring. Body jet liposuction is only effective for underarm hyperhidrosis. It is an expensive technique so is probably only suitable when other treatment options have failed.

 

This article is shortened to fit within Newspaper space limits. More detailed information and leaflets is available in Whelehans