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Surgery May Be Solution For Sweaty Palms

Posting Date: 08/07/2001

Many of us react to stressful situations with a racing heart and sweaty palms. But once the speech is over or the wedding starts winding down, both our hearts and our hands return to normal.

For a few unfortunate people, however, sweaty palms are a life-long curse. It is hard to imagine how such an affliction affects a person's life.

One reader shared a personal experience with this condition called hyperhidrosis: "Growing up, not only was I inhibited by a fear of shaking hands, high-fives and intimacy, but I was also planning a career in medicine. Wearing vinyl or latex gloves was nearly impossible in my situation.

"Fortunately, my dermatologist suggested surgery (a bilateral sympathectomy). When I was 19, I had this done as an outpatient procedure. Right after the surgery my hands were warm and dry for the first time I can remember. Two years later, my hands are still dry. I owe my happiness to my dermatologist and the thoracic surgeons."

This person had tried the usual approaches, including coating the palms with strong aluminum chloride antiperspirant and treating them with an electronic device (Drionic). In most cases, such remedies help, but in extreme cases nothing works for long.

We heard about one woman whose feet used to sweat so profusely that water would pool in her shoes while she was singing in the church choir. If she held her hand out palm up, it would fill with sweat in a short time. Antiperspirants and other treatments were nearly useless.

This woman, like the medical student who wrote to us, found that surgery changed her life. According to a friend, "Her hands were always wet, which led to a major complex when she had to be around strangers. When she went to Houston for the surgery the results were immediate and lasting. She is like a new woman!"

Her husband adds, "My wife suffered and was teased for most of her childhood. For years she hid this condition from friends with small washcloths buried in her hands. The only sad thing is that we didn't hear about the surgery until she was 40 years old."