Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment for Hyperhidrosis
Your sweating is excessive — you leave puddles in every seat you sit in, your clothes are constantly damp, and you’re almost certain the BO smell is coming from you.
As a long-time sufferer of hyperhidrosis, you’ve learned to adjust your lifestyle to help live with the symptoms. But what if you didn’t have to anymore?
With many treatments for hyperhidrosis available, those experiencing the unfortunate symptoms don’t have to live a life of frustration and embarrassment.
Learn how to properly diagnose hyperhidrosis and the many treatment options available to help minimize your symptoms and allow you to live as normal a life as possible.
Table of Contents
What Is Hyperhidrosis?
Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating that is not always related to being hot or exercising. Instead, you sweat so much from normal daily activities that the sweat pours through your clothes, drips off your body, and leaves you full of anxiety and embarrassment.
There are two types of hyperhidrosis:
- Primary focal hyperhidrosis – The most common type of hyperhidrosis caused by a genetic change. Primary focal hyperhidrosis can be inherited from biological family members and typically affects the armpits, hands, feet, and face.
- Secondary generalized hyperhidrosis – This type is caused by an underlying medical condition or as a side of medication.
Unfortunately, hyperhidrosis can interrupt many parts of life — but it’s not uncommon.
Seeking professional medical advice and care can help you find hyperhidrosis treatment options that manage or alleviate your symptoms.
Goodskin Dermatology offers a variety of services to those in the Portland Metro Area. Our team of professionals can help properly diagnose you with hyperhidrosis, assess your symptoms, and create a treatment plan to manage them.
What Are the Symptoms of Hyperhidrosis?
Symptoms of hyperhidrosis can range from minor symptoms that come and go to more constant symptoms that affect daily activities.
Aside from physical symptoms, hyperhidrosis might also have an emotional impact, affecting mental health and social anxieties.
Physical Symptoms of Hyperhidrosis
The most obvious physical symptom of hyperhidrosis is sweating. You might experience wetness on your skin, your clothing being damp or drenched (depending on how excessively you sweat), or beads of sweat dripping from your skin.
As your hyperhidrosis worsens, you may also begin to notice:
- Itching and inflammation caused by sweat irritation
- Flushing of the face
- Body odor
- Cracked or peeling skin on your feet
Emotional Symptoms of Hyperhidrosis
No one wants to be caught wet from their own sweat, leaving puddles on chairs when they stand up, or smelling of body odor from the bacteria on their skin mixing with the sweat particles.
These symptoms can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, embarrassment, and more. You might begin to:
- Avoid social situations
- Keep from shaking hands
- Refrain from dancing or exercise
- Have difficulty performing your job
- Shower or change clothes frequently
What Causes Hyperhidrosis?
There are two types of hyperhidrosis — primary and secondary hyperhidrosis — and each is caused by different factors.
Primary Focal Hyperhidrosis
This first type of hyperhidrosis is usually inherited from a family member who has also had it.
Most often, primary focal hyperhidrosis develops in childhood with the first symptoms appearing before age 25, and worsens with puberty, especially for women.
Secondary Generalized Hyperhidrosis
Most often, secondary generalized hyperhidrosis is caused by another medical condition or behavior.
This list is long but could include conditions like:
- Neurologic syndromes
- Thyrotoxicosis
- Low blood sugar
- Overactive thyroid gland
- Gout
- Menopause or pregnancy
- Medications
- Chronic alcoholism
- Spinal cord injuries
- Infections
How Is Hyperhidrosis Diagnosed?
Should you suspect you’re suffering from hyperhidrosis, consult a medical professional for a proper diagnosis.
Seeking the care of a dermatologist is your best bet. To diagnose hyperhidrosis, a dermatologist will conduct a physical exam, closely examining the areas of the body that sweat excessively. They will also ask specific questions to help understand the cause behind the excessive sweating.
In some cases, medical testing is needed to help confirm a diagnosis of hyperhidrosis and create a proper treatment plan.
Starch Iodine Test
A dermatologist most often uses the starch iodine test, or sweat test, to properly diagnose and treat hyperhidrosis.
A powder is placed on the patient’s skin and turns a purple-brown color when it gets wet with sweat. This helps detect the areas that are affected by excessive sweating.
VapoMeter
A VapoMeter device is used to measure transepidermal water loss and the amount of sweat on the hands, armpits, feet, and scalp.
This test helps give your dermatologist an objective way to compare the amount of sweat before and after treatment.
How Is Hyperhidrosis Treated?
Luckily, hyperhidrosis can be treated in many ways, depending on the severity of your condition. But can hyperhidrosis be cured?
Unfortunately, no cure will completely take away the symptoms of hyperhidrosis, but many treatments for hyperhidrosis can help reduce symptoms and improve your quality of life.
To receive the best treatment for hyperhidrosis, consult the care of an experienced dermatologist, like Goodskin Dermatology.
*Please note that treatments may vary depending on the condition and individual patient. Always consult with your healthcare provider to see which treatment is recommended.
Medication
Many different medications have been tested and approved to help minimize the symptoms of hyperhidrosis.
Prescription Antiperspirant
Antiperspirants with aluminum chloride are often prescribed to help minimize hyperhidrosis symptoms.
Most often, patients will apply it to dry skin before going to bed and then wash it off in the morning.
It may take a few days to begin seeing results, but once you do, your dermatologist might recommend using it only once or twice a week to maintain its effect.
Prescription Creams and Wipes
Prescription creams that contain glycopyrrolate have been shown to help hyperhidrosis that mainly affects the face and hands.
When soaked in glycopyrronium tosylate, the wipes should begin to ease the symptoms. In addition to the face and hands, the wipes may also be used on the underarms and feet.
Nerve-Blocking Medications
Oral medications can be prescribed that help block the nerves that trigger the sweat glands to help reduce excessive sweating.
Antidepressants
Some antidepressant medications, like Oxybutynin, can help reduce sweating. Some others may also help reduce the depression and anxiety that often come along with hyperhidrosis.
Botulinum Toxin Injections
Although considered a medication, Botox injections are a treatment option that directly triggers the sweat glands. This small procedure requires an injection of Botox to be inserted directly into the sweat glands associated with hyperhidrosis.
Botox is typically rather painless, but numbing via topical anesthesia is usually an option.
To treat hyperhidrosis via Botox, each affected area will likely require several injections and treatment should be repeated every six months to retain effect. It could take a few days to begin noticing results.
Surgical And Other Procedures
A handful of surgical and at-home procedures are available for more severe cases of hyperhidrosis. Your dermatologist might recommend one of these procedures as the best hyperhidrosis treatment option.
Surgical Procedures
These procedures are done in-office under the care and guidance of medical professionals.
Sweat Gland Removal
If your hyperhidrosis is focused on your underarms, a common treatment is sweat gland removal. This minimally invasive technique is easy to perform, has high rates of success, and has relatively few side effects.
With this, the sweat glands in your underarms are removed by scraping them away, suctioning them out, or a combination of the two methods.
Nerve Surgery
Also known as sympathectomy, this procedure works to remove a small section of the spinal nerves that control sweating in your hands.
Unfortunately, a side effect of nerve surgery is compensatory sweating, where patients experience permanent and heavy sweating in other areas of the body.
Because of this, nerve surgery is usually only considered for those who have explored other options of treatment for hyperhidrosis and have had no or little success.
Other Procedure Options
Before jumping straight into surgical options, your dermatologist will likely explore some other techniques and procedures that could help with the symptoms of hyperhidrosis, depending on its severity.
Iontophoresis
Your dermatologist might suggest this home treatment, where patients soak their hands or feet in a pan of water while a device passes a mild electric current through the water. This current blocks the nerves that trigger sweating, helping to minimize symptoms.
Generally, patients are required to soak for 20 to 40 minutes at each session and repeat the treatment two to three times a week until symptoms improve.
Once symptoms are noticeably better, treatments may be reduced to once a week or once a month to maintain the effect.
An iontophoresis device requires a prescription from your healthcare provider.
Microwave Therapy
This treatment option is done in-office and uses a handheld device called a miraDry that delivers microwave energy to the affected areas to destroy sweat glands. Typically, this is used in the armpits.
Treatments involve two 20 to 30-minute sessions that are three months apart
Lifestyle Changes
Even with medications, procedures, and surgery as treatment options, many dermatologists will suggest following some lifestyle changes that can help control sweating and body odor, depending on the severity of your symptoms. These may include:
- Using an antiperspirant that contains 6-20% aluminum chloride
- Choosing socks and shoes made of natural materials
- Changing socks or washing your feet throughout the day
- Wearing sandals or going barefoot when possible
- Wearing natural fabrics that allow your skin to breathe
- Showering more often
Goodskin Dermatology Provides High-Quality, Patient-Based Care for Hyperhidrosis
Long gone are the days of sitting in your sweat and sulking in embarrassment.
If you experience damp clothes, sweat droplets on your skin, a flushed face, or other symptoms of hyperhidrosis, you no longer have to suffer.
Goodskin Dermatology offers many treatments for hyperhidrosis, following a proper physical exam and diagnosis.
Following our mission to help patients maintain healthy, vibrant, and beautiful skin, Goodskin offers treatments for many skin conditions. We pride ourselves on providing top-quality care to every patient. Contact us today.
The content in this blog should not be used in place of direct medical advice/treatment and is solely for informational purposes.