Hyperhidrosis

 What is hyperhidrosis?

Hyper­hidro­sis is a con­di­tion where an indi­vid­ual suf­fers from exces­sive per­spi­ra­tion. It can be spe­cif­ic to the hands, feet and armpits or to any part of the body where there is a large amount of sweat glands. The glands pro­duce high­er than usu­al amounts of sweat, caus­ing dif­fi­cul­ty for indi­vid­u­als to shake hands and car­ry out rou­tine tasks.

Why does hyperhidrosis occur?

There are many rea­sons why hyper­hidro­sis can occur. Pri­ma­ry hyper­hidro­sis is a result of a genet­ic trait. Where­as sec­ondary hyper­hidro­sis occurs for envi­ron­men­tal rea­sons such as the thy­roid or pitu­itary gland, menopause, cer­tain drugs, dia­betes mel­li­tus or gout (crys­talli­sa­tion deposits of uric acid in joints).

How is hyperhidrosis treated?

IontophoresisHands being treated for Hyperhidrosis by Iontophoresis

Elec­tric pulse ther­a­py, known as Ion­tophore­sis, is a treat­ment used to block the sweat glands with salts from tap water, reduc­ing sweat­ing over time. West­Coast Vas­cu­lar offers ion­tophore­sis for feet, hands and under­arms. It is a non-inva­sive and pain­less treat­ment for peo­ple suf­fer­ing from exces­sive sweat­ing. Chil­dren under the age of 16 can have Ion­tophore­sis with con­sent from a med­ical prac­ti­tion­er and a par­ent or guardian.

West­Coast Vas­cu­lar offers two dif­fer­ent types of ion­tophore­sis; saline and gly­copy­rro­late. Both treat­ments are very effec­tive and pain­less. Please dis­cuss which option is bet­ter for you at your ini­tial consultation.

You can also down­load our Ion­tophore­sis infor­ma­tion brochure from the web­site and our Ion­tophore­sis price list for the full list of treat­ments. Please call the office on (08) 9386 9855 or email reception@westcoastvascular.com.au to book an appoint­ment or for more information.

Injection Therapy

Injec­tion ther­a­py is a treat­ment that can be used to reduce sweat­ing in the under­arms. An alter­na­tive to surgery that West­Coast Vas­cualr is look­ing in to pro­vid­ing for patients.

Surgical Intervention

There are some med­ica­tions that can be tak­en to alle­vi­ate the symp­toms of hyper­hidro­sis. Med­ical pro­ce­dures include cut­ting out, burn­ing or clamp­ing the sym­pa­thet­ic nerve that runs par­al­lel to the spine. Clamp­ing the sym­pa­thet­ic nerve is a safe pro­ce­dure which can be reversed if necessary.