Excessive Sweating aka Hyperhidrosis
How do I know if I sweat too much?
It’s a good thing we all sweat. If we didn’t, we would not be able to regulate our body temperature. So some sweating is needed. Hyperhidrosis (hi-pur-hi-DROE-sis) is abnormally excessive sweating that's not necessarily related to heat or exercise. Typically, it is deemed too much if it gets in the way of your normal activities, causes social discomfort, or emotional stress.What is the cause?
If excessive sweating has been occurring since a young age and is not associated with weight loss, fevers, infections, other health concerns, then it is likely “primary hyperhidrosis”. Primary hyperhidrosis is due to an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This typically makes sweating worse in high anxiety situations.
Secondary hyperhidrosis can be a sign of serious medical illness or disease and therefore speaking with your dermatologist to rule this out is important – many times this can be done by asking a few simple questions.
How do I treat it?
Depending on the location – armpits, hands, feet, scalp, face, groin, etc – treatments may differ.
The most important treatment to start with is simple topical anti-perspirants that are found in your grocery store. The method of application is very important.
If this fails, prescription topical antiperspirants, oral anti-sweating tablets, iontophoresis, Botox, and Miradry are all options.
Source: American Academy of Dermatology (link - https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/a-z/hyperhidrosis-treatment)
For Physicians only (or patients of Dr. Contestable) – “Excessive Sweating – Patient Handout”