While sweating is essential for normal body temperature regulation, excessive sweating interferes with activities of daily living and may become a problem in interpersonal interaction or for self-image (e. g. excessive sweating under the armpits or in the palms of the hands).
Some medical conditions, for example excess of thyroid hormones and other endocrine diseases, may be the underlying cause of excessive sweating. Thus, excessive sweating should be diagnosed by a physician prior to commencing treatment. If no underlying cause is found or likely, the medical profession does what it does best and calls it “essential”. Not that it is essential for you, the client, but it means we “essentially” don’t know what causes it.
At this point various lotions and potions come in, none of them particularly effective, although frequently labeled “medically proven” – whatever that may be.
A scientific treatment for excessive sweating is based on the fact that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine stimulates the production and excretion of sweat in sweat glands which are located in everybody’s skin, higher in density in some regions (e. g. armpits, palms) than others. In aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery we have the ideal drug to block acetylcholine effects topically – botulinum toxin A (botox, dysport). These are truly scientifically proven treatments reducing excessive sweating in the armpits by 80% in one session in almost all clients.