Excessive Hand Sweating

Among those patients who suffer from focal excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) the most common form of this is excessive hand sweating also known as palmar hyperhidrosis. It affects about 1 ½ % of the population world-wide. There are some areas in the world where the prevalence of hyperhidrosis is higher. Obviously excessive sweaty hands can cause serious functional and social problems for people in their everyday lives. The severe cases usually start in early childhood and continue on into their adult lives. There is a genetic history in about 50% of those patients indicating a genetic connection.

In early life those individuals need support from their family and friends and later on conservative measures should be attempted to control this. There is a variety of lotions, oral medications, electrical devices and Botox injections. Visit our alternative hyperhidrosis treatment methods page.

For those who have exhausted some of the conservative measures without measurable success the surgical option should be considered as the last resort. The operation which is known as endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is a powerful effective method to help with those severe cases. It can be carried out on an outpatient basis and the success rate for the excessive sweaty hands ranges in the area of 98%. The success rate for other focal hyperhidrosis sites such as armpit sweating and foot sweating is much less and one should read about it in the other sections of this website.

Also since the operation has some side effects a potential patient should be familiar with what the side effects are and a thorough discussion between the patient and the surgeon should take place. Please make sure that you talk to the actual surgeon and not anyone else about the surgery, indications, side effects and the experience of that surgeon.