Are your handshakes embarrassing due to the excessive sweating that always occurs on your palms? Is the constant perspiration in your armpits preventing you from being as sociable as you really like to be? Do you get smeared ink when writing? Do you have trouble using electronic devices?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, you are probably suffering from a condition called hyperhidrosis. Or, may be, another illness such as hyperthyroidism or obesity is causing heavy perspiration on your body. Menopause and psychiatric disorders are also known to be responsible for the condition. In elderly patients especially elderly women a common but unique situation is upper body sweating. This particular type of sweating could be due to aging, hormonal changes, weight or lack of activity.

Regardless of where or why it occurs, perspiration presents problems to those living with the condition. It can extremely affect people socially and functionally in their everyday lives.

Patients who experience hyperhidrosis experience constant perspiration no matter they are living in a hot or cold climate. Most people with this condition report that they have suffered for many years, usually since their childhood. This shows that hyperhidrosis is not a temporary condition.

Hyperhidrosis cases can be divided into two categories:

1. Generalized hyperhidrosis is where sweating occurs over the entire body. It can happen on the face, trunk and extremities.
2. Focal hyperhidrosis is the condition in which the problem is focused in one area of the body. The most commonly affected areas of the body are the palms/hands (palmar hyperhidrosis), feet (plantar hyperhidrosis) and armpits (axillary hyperhidrosis).

While doctors differ in their attempts to explain the origin(s) of the problem, there is some consensus on the most likely cause being a genetic one. Fortunately, as expected, this has not prevented practitioners from trying several excellent approaches to cure or control this very socially and functionally embarrassing problem. They have experimented with everything from herbal medications, lotions to oral medications to the invasive surgical procedures that are so unpopular among patients and the medical community alike.

One seemingly successful approach is the BOTOX® injection treatment. BOTOX (short for botulinum toxin) is the commercial name given to a toxin which is produced from botulism, as the originator of the technique liked to call it. BOTOX® is a derivative of the deadly botulism toxin but in small quantities it is safe.

Apart from its other uses, an appropriate quantity of BOTOX acts as an inhibitor for the release of the neurotransmitter that causes sweat production. During a Botox session, small amounts of the toxin are injected into the target region to paralyze all the nerves that stimulate the sweat glands. It blocks the chemical transmitters released from these nerves causing excessive sweating.

Botox is effective in reducing sweating at least temporarily (usually for 3 to 6 months). The injection of the Botox in the armpit areas, for example, can help the patient for about 4 to 6 months at a time.

If you would like to have your excessive sweating controlled too,contact us to learn how Dubai Cosmetic Surgery Clinics can help