Stop Excessive Sweating With miraDry®

While sweating isn’t necessarily something we enjoy, it does help the body cool off and regulate temperature. However, if you are one of the millions of people that suffer from excessive underarm sweating, you are probably tired of the embarrassment that often accompanies this condition. The good news is that with miraDry®, we can solve this problem and improve the quality of your life and there’s no surgery involved.

What Causes Excessive Sweating?

Hyperhidrosis is the technical name for the condition that causes excessive sweating. This is sweating that is not caused by exposure to heat or exercise. People with hyperhidrosis will endure sweaty armpits and hands, sometimes to the point where it soaks through clothing and drips off your hands.

Every human body contains thousands of nerves, and some of these nerves are in charge of sending signals to the sweat glands letting them know when to start sweating and cool your body down.

With hyperhidrosis, the nerves aren’t sending these signals correctly, and the sweat glands go into overdrive, causing you to sweat profusely, and often when it’s not even warm and when you aren’t exercising.

Types of Hyperhidrosis

There are two types of hyperhidrosis. One is called primary focal hyperhidrosis, and this is the most common form of hyperhidrosis. No one is sure what causes this condition, although heredity may be a factor in some cases.

Secondary hyperhidrosis is less common and is typically related to another condition, such as diabetes, some cancers, and even menopause (those hot flashes that we all enjoy so much). With secondary hyperhidrosis, a doctor would treat the underlying medical condition that is causing the excessive sweating, which might eliminate or lessen the problem.

On the flip side, there also is a rare condition known as hypohidrosis. With this condition, a person’s sweat glands no longer work correctly. Some people are born with hypohidrosis, and others develop it later in life, often due to nerve damage from other diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. People unable to sweat properly are prone to heatstroke, which can be deadly.

Hyperhidrosis Treatment Options

Patients often ask us how to stop hyperhidrosis or how to cure hyperhidrosis, and in the past, this was more difficult. In some cases, medications or prescription-strength antiperspirants or creams could be used to lessen the problem. Botox injections have been shown to help, as well, but this is not a permanent solution, and Botox treatment is expensive and you typically need additional treatments every six to 12 months.

In other cases, surgery would be considered as a solution. This might include surgery to remove the sweat glands or a type of nerve surgery known as a sympathectomy. The latter procedure, however, sometimes leads to a condition known as compensatory sweating, which is excessive sweating that begins to occur in other areas of the body, although this is a rare side effect.

If you want to avoid surgery, but still want a permanent solution for excessive sweating, miraDry® can be the perfect treatment option. With miraDry®, we now have a non-surgical, safe, and permanent underarm sweat treatment that can solve this embarrassing and uncomfortable condition.

The miraDry® Procedure

With miraDry®, we use thermal energy to eliminate sweat glands in your underarm area. Your body has hundreds of sweat glands, so eliminating the relatively few glands in the underarm is not dangerous, and your body still will be able to regulate its temperature after these sweat glands are eliminated.

The first step in the process is a consultation with Dr. Thaxton. We can discuss your excessive sweating issues, talk about possible underlying conditions, and discuss if miraDry® treatment is the best fit for you.

If miraDry® is a great fit (and it is for most patients), we will schedule your treatment. When you arrive, we will numb the area with a local anesthetic and then mark the treatment area with a temporary tattoo. From there, we use a special machine to apply thermal energy to the area, which eliminates the sweat glands. Most patients tell us that the procedure is painless, and typically the numbing treatment is the only part of the process that might cause mild discomfort.

Many patients want to know how long until you see the effects and how long does miraDry® last? You should see an immediate improvement, and the results are permanent. According to clinical research provided on the miraDry® website, a typical patient should enjoy at least an 82% reduction in sweat and an 89% reduction in odors. Often, one treatment is all that is needed, but occasionally we will schedule an additional treatment or treatments, if necessary.

The procedure takes about an hour, and most patients can return to work immediately, although we recommend that you avoid exercise for a few days following treatment. Swelling and bruising in the underarm area is common for several days after your miraDry® treatment, and some patients tell us that there is either tenderness or numbness in the underarm as well, but this typically should resolve within a week.

Excessive sweating can take a toll on your self-esteem. If you are tired of soaking through clothes and the constant worry over odors and tired of expensive dry cleaning bills, miraDry® can be an easy solution to this problem. Give us a call today and let’s set up a consultation to see if miraDry® is the best option for you.