Treatments Your Dermatologist May Use To Help Excess Sweating In Your Hands
Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating. This condition can affect specific parts of your body such as your hands or your feet. While it may not seem like a concerning condition, it can be very embarrassing and it can affect your self-confidence. When your hands are excessively sweaty, you may avoid people and because of that be isolated and even perform poorly at your job. There are some treatments that can help this condition. Here are some things your dermatologist might try:
Botox Injections
Botox is usually given to reduce wrinkles, but its effect can also cause a reduction in sweating. The dermatologist will numb your skin with ice or an anesthetic first and then make several injections in your hands. Botox is often very effective at stopping excessive hand sweating because it blocks nerve signals in your sweat glands. The effects can last for several months after a treatment.
Iontophoresis
This treatment uses a mild electrical current to stop sweating. You place your hands in a shallow pan of water and the device sends the current through the water as you're soaking them for several minutes. This treatment might not work very well if you have soft water because it is the combination of the electrical current and the minerals in water that gets results. You take these treatments a few times a week until your hands stop sweating and then less often as a form of maintenance to keep your palms dry. You can take the treatment in your dermatologist's office or the dermatologist can write a prescription for one of the devices so you can take the treatments at home.
Medications
Your dermatologist may consider prescription medications to help control your sweating. Some of these work by affecting nerve impulses that control your sweat glands. Others work by controlling anxiety that can make the condition worse. Your dermatologist can even prescribe a strong antiperspirant for you to use. You apply this to dry hands at night before you go to bed and then wash it off in the morning.
Surgery
As a last resort, surgery might be considered. Surgery for palm sweating involves clamping or cutting the nerve that controls the sweat glands in your palm. This procedure sometimes causes the undesired side effect of increasing sweating elsewhere on the body, so it is usually reserved for special cases. Your dermatologist will help you decide if this type of surgery is a good choice for you.
There's a good chance you can avoid surgery by opting for one of the other treatments or by taking a combination of them. You'll need to be consistent with the treatment you choose to get the best results.
Contact a medical center like Heibel Dermatology for more information and assistance.
Share
