Surgery (Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy or ETS): Select sympathetic nerves or nerve ganglia in the chest are either cut or burned (completely destroying their ability to transmit impulses), or clamped (theoretically allowing for the reversal of the procedure). The procedure often causes anhidrosis from the mid-chest upwards, a disturbing condition. Major drawbacks to the procedure include thermo regulatory dysfunction (Goldstein, 2005), lowered fear and alertness and the overwhelming incidence of compensatory Hyperhydrosis. Some people find this sweating to be tolerable while others find the compensatory Hyperhydrosis to be worse than the initial condition. It has also been established that there is a low (less than 1%) chance of Horner's syndrome. Other risks common to minimally-invasive chest surgery, though rare, do exist. Patients have also been shown to experience a cardiac sympathetic denervation, which results in a 10% lowered heartbeat during both rest and exercise. ETS was thought to be helpful in treating facial blushing and facial sweating. According to Dr. Reisfeld,the only indication for ETS at present is excessive and severe palmar Hyperhydrosis (excessive hand sweating). Statistics have shown that when treated for facial blushing and/or excessive facial sweating, the failure rate of ETS for those two clinical presentations is higher and patients are more prone to side effects.
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