Specialist Sara de Cabanyes explains that hyperhidrosis is a condition involving excessive sweating which has a great emotional impact on patients
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, February 1, 2022. Hyperhidrosis is a dermatological disorder characterized by sweating that is disproportionate to the need to regulate body temperature and "which becomes a limiting factor in the normal activities of patients”, explains Dr. Sara de Cabanyes, Thoracic Surgeon at Hospital Universitario Hospiten Bellevue, Rambla y Sur.
Excessive sweating can be triggered by heat, physical activity, or stress, regardless of ambient temperature. It is estimated that the condition may affect 2.8% of the population, regardless of gender, with symptoms usually appearing before the age of 25 and may be constant, in phases or episodes.
The main symptom of hyperhidrosis is abnormal excessive sweating in one or several parts of the body (typically armpits, palms of the hands or soles of the feet) which is uncomfortable and can interfere with everyday activities, like handling small items such as screws or nuts, writing or drawing in the case of the hands), at work (shaking hands with clients if the hands are affected) or in the way we interact with other people, when we avoid wearing certain items of clothing for fear of showing sweat lines in under our arms.
Dr. de Cabanyes explains that there is a wide variety of techniques available to correct the condition, like, for example, surgical treatment consisting of the interruption of the transmission of stimuli between the different thoracic sympathetic ganglia by means of a minimally invasive, not very painful, technique.
After surgery, the patient usually wakes up without any type of chest drain in a post-surgical resuscitation unit. If no complications are seen on the chest X-ray, the patient may be discharged from the hospital within a few hours with prescribed analgesia and follow-up appointments in outpatients’ consultations. As a general rule, the effects of the procedure are noticeable within hours, although some cases it may take a little more than 24 hours to feel the full effects of the procedure.
The specialist goes on to explain that Hospiten uses other techniques like botulinum toxin, especially in axillary hyperhidrosis, although it can also be used to treat other parts of the body like the face, the groin, the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet. The most widespread method is the application of small subdermal injections. In this case, a reduction of 50% in sweating has been described in 90% of cases, with this effect lasting between 4 and 5 months and side effects recorded in less than 6% of cases.
There is a solution to hyperhidrosis and despite being a common, uncomfortable condition, with a great emotional impact, only one in three patients consults a health professional. In this case, Hospiten recommends seeing a specialist to assess the degree of complication and determine the most appropriate technique, since medical advances have been successful in correcting the disorder and, consequently, in improving the quality of life of patients and their personal relationships.
About the Hospiten Group
The Hospiten Group is an international healthcare network with 50 years of experience, committed to providing the highest quality service, and which has twenty private medical-hospital centers in Spain, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Panama, and more than a hundred outpatient offices under the brand Clinic Assist. The group is chaired by Dr. Pedro Luis Cobiella and attends more than 1,900,000 patients from all over the world every year with a workforce of more than 5,000 people.