No Sweat

Posting Date: 02/09/2004

"Our studies have found that patients with hyperhidrosis produced four to five times the amount of sweat as those without the condition," said Dr. Glaser. "Men with hyperhidrosis, for example, produced an average of 346 milligrams of sweat per five minutes, as compared to men sweating normally, who produced 72 milligrams. Women with hyperhidrosis produced 186 milligrams of sweat, while normal women produced 46 milligrams."

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Treatment options for hyperhidrosis are administered according to the site and severity of the symptoms and include:

Botulinum Toxin

New research indicates that botulinum toxin - the drug that paralyzes wrinkles for cosmetic purposes - works to treat hyperhidrosis by interrupting the chemical messages released by nerve endings that tell the sweat gland when to sweat.

The study, to be released at the AAD?s 62nd Annual Meeting, included 322 patients who were injected with either botulinum toxin or placebo. Among the individuals who received the botulinum toxin, 82 percent to 87 percent said they had significantly decreased amounts of sweating. By comparison, the same claim was made by only 33 percent of the patients who were treated with placebo. The average duration of botulinum toxin?s benefits was approximately 200 days, and 85 percent of the patients treated reported satisfaction with botulinum toxin therapy compared with previous treatments.

"Dermatologists around the country who are using this new treatment are echoing the results of previously published papers, and they are very excited about the results that their patients are experiencing," said Dr. Glaser.

Dermatologists inject patients with botulinum toxin at the site where the excessive sweating is occurring, such as the hand or underarm. The drug promptly freezes the nerve that would normally stimulate the sweat gland. For maximum results, injections may need to be repeated every six to nine months.