Dangerous Hyper Hydrosis Treatment Claims to Cure Sweaty Palms

2007-08-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

Palmar hyper hydrosis (when you have excessive sweating of your hands) really sucks.

I personally don't have this condition, but I can imagine how difficult it can be to live with it.

I mean, imagine being at a social event where you have to shake hands. Like a business meeting, or even at a night club.

But, for whatever reason, your palms are sweaty, to the point where they're almost dripping.

What are people going to think of you when their dry hands meet your sweaty hands?

You could wipe away the sweat on your pants, but then it'll just leave sweat marks there. And your momentary dry hands will come back seconds later.

This is what people suffering from palmer hyperhidrosis have to go through all the time.

But, there are some medical treatments for this, and one of them is called "thoracoscopic sympathectomy".

Take a look below at the experience of a 17 year old palmar hyper hidrosis sufferer had with this surgery:

Curing sweaty palms

Lauren Sarmiento’s hands sweated so profusely that the perspiration would pool in her palms and drip onto the floor.

The 17-year-old’s school papers became soggy and the ink smudged. When she drove, the steering wheel slipped in her wet palms.

Lauren’s were complaints that Dr. Mark Krasna at St. Joseph Medical Center said he has heard virtually hundreds of times.

A thoracic surgeon and medical director of the Towson hospital’s Cancer Institute, Krasna treats patients with hyperhidrosis, the excessive sweating disorder that Lauren, of Rocky Mount, N.C., developed in early adolescence.

Since the early 1990s, Krasna has been performing on such patients a surgery called thoracoscopic sympathectomy, a procedure Lauren underwent in July.

“She hasn’t had a drop on her fingers or hands from the minute we left there,” said Richard Sarmiento, Lauren’s father. ...

...The only permanent solution is thoracoscopic sympathectomy, a non-invasive procedure in which the surgeon makes an incision under each armpit to interrupt the sympathetic nerve chain. Overactivity in the chain, which runs along the spinal column, causes the excessive sweating.

Cutting to various levels in the nerve chain disables the sweating in various parts of the body, Krasna explained.

The effects are instant and permanent, but the surgery can be costly, Pieretti said. Sarmiento said he was quoted $29,000 for the surgery at one hospital. At St. Joseph, the surgery will cost the family about $5,000 after Lauren’s insurance agreed to cover it, Sarmiento said.

Wow, almost sounds too good to be true! But ETS surgery does carry a risk:

In about 40 percent to 50 percent of cases, patients develop a side effect called compensatory sweating, Krasna said. Basically, the excessive sweating reappears in another part of the body — the inner thighs, the back.

Compensatory sweating is serious enough to prompt the International Hyperhidrosis Society to advise against the surgery, said its executive director. The nonprofit is supported in part by grants from the companies that make treatments for the condition, including Allergan, which makes Botox, and the Secret antiperspirant brand.

The treatments “are not permanent, but at the same time, since the surgery is permanent, if you get these side effects, you have them for life,” Pieretti said.

“Not everyone is prepared mentally or otherwise to deal with that,” said Krasna.

Almost a 50% risk of developing sweating in other parts of your body with this hyperhidrosis treatment. I'm not sure about you, but that seems like too big of a gamble to me.