Excessive sweating (Hyperhidrosis)
Excessive sweating is a disease that affects many people around the world. It is more common especially in summer. It is a problem that occurs in the whole body or in areas such as the head, neck, face, hands, feet, armpits. Sweating is a mechanism that helps to maintain the body’s heat balance in the face of sudden changes in heat and cold. Sweating develops involuntarily. Sweating occurs thanks to sweat glands in the body. There are two types of sweat glands in the body, eccrine and apocrine. Eccrine sweat glands are widely found throughout the body. Apocrine sweat glands are located in the armpits, chest, and nape.
If the sweating, which occurs with the warming of the weather, occurs excessively, this situation is considered as a disease. Excessive sweating is called hyperhidrosis. Although the person reduces the sweat rate by taking care, this reduction may not always be sufficient. Excessive sweating, which is mostly seen in areas such as armpits, hands, face and head, can reduce the quality of life by removing the person from social life. In such cases, the disease must be treated.
Causes of excessive sweating
More than normal functioning of the thyroid gland, diabetes, some types of cancer, adrenal gland diseases, overweight, psychological reasons, menopause are among the diseases that can cause this disease. Some medications can also cause sweating.
Excessive work of the sympathetic nervous system in our body can also cause excessive sweating. Situations such as excitement, fear, stress, distress can cause the sympathetic nervous system to overwork.
Over-sweating treatment
First of all, it is necessary to determine the cause of sweating. If excessive sweating occurs due to an underlying cause, this cause is eliminated first. If the cause has not been found, the disease is considered to be congenital and the treatment is carried out accordingly.
People with excessive sweating problems should prefer thin clothes. Afterwards, the disease is tried to be treated with medication and psychotherapy. In addition to these, there is a treatment method called iontophoresis and it is very successful in the treatment of excessive sweating. In this method, it is aimed to cure the disease by giving a very low level of electric current to the hands and feet of the patient in a small bowl of water.
Botox treatment is one of the most commonly applied methods for excessive sweating today. A substance called botulinum is used in the treatment. It is generally preferred under the armpits, palms and soles of the feet. Botox, which is applied as an injection to the skin, is applied in about 15-20 minutes. In order to find out where the sweat glands are excessive, first an iodine-starch test is done. The disease is treated by applying botox to the marked areas.
In surgical treatment, the nerve heads extending to the hand and face are cut by entering the patient’s armpit. This process is very successful for hand and face sweating. However, if there is excessive sweating under the armpit, the axillary sweat glands can be surgically removed and the disease can be treated. Surgical treatments are the last option in cases where other methods have not been successful.
