Thursday, March 17, 2011

Iontophoresis should be tried before other treatments

Iontophoresis is easy to perform, effective in about 90% of patients in two studies with 54 and 30 participants, free of hazardous side effects, and well accepted by almost all patients.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118569/

We disagree that surgery and botulinum toxin are treatments of choice in severe cases of hyperhidrosis

The truth is exactly the opposite. Surgery is only rarely necessary, and the editorial quite properly warns of numerous surgical pitfalls, which include recurrence of hyperhidrosis, almost certain impotence, compensatory sweating, permanent neurological damage from anoxia, and death (their words). Botulinum toxin, which they recommend for axillary or plantar hyperhidrosis, requires 12 injections per axilla and 24-36 injections per foot. Even this horrendous procedure gives only 11 months' relief, and antibody formation may reduce long term efficiency.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118569/