Sweating of the armpits

December 20th, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized

Sweating of the Armpits

Sweating of the armpits or axillary hyperhydrosis is a form of excessive sweating. About 1% of the population exhibit this medical condition which involves extreme, sopping sweat in the armpit area. It is associated with palmar hyperhydrosis (sweating of the hands) in 40% of the cases and can also present as isolated facial hyperhydrosis.

Two types of sweat glands are present in the armpit area: eccrine and apocrine glands. The Eccrine glands produce clear, watery, odorless sweat and are provided with sympathetic nerves. The Apocrine glands on the other hand produce thick sweat leading to sweating of the armpits with odor.

Various methods to treat sweating of the armpits are now present in the market which makes the treatment of such a socially debilitating disorder easy. One such method is subdermal laser ablation characterised by the reduction of sweat gland by laser. This is used in the cases characterised by focal axillary hyperhydrosis and is performed with mild sedation. This method ensures a speedy and a healthy recovery and the trauma associated with this approach is much less than that associated with other methods. Axillary suction currettage was used to cure the disorder till the recent past but is now not used due to its association with patient discomfort.

However, the slight hitch which exists here is that isolated surgical methodologies for curing sweating of the armpits almost never furnish a 100% effective result. Certain experiments have proven that combining laser ablation technique with the axillary suction currettage method provides a better and successful solution.