A possible new method of treating excessive sweating involves blasting the palms of the hands and armpits with liquid Botox at high pressure, avoiding painful injections.
A small study of this experimental technique found it improved sweating from the palms and armpits, but we need larger studies to confirm it works.
Severe sweating affects about 5 per cent of people. The problem often hampers relationships and work performance due to feelings of embarrassment, not wanting to shake hands or socialise, difficulty holding objects, and the need to change clothes regularly, says Samantha Eisman at Sinclair Dermatology, a skin clinic in Melbourne, Australia.
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Conventional treatments include surgery, medication and prescription antiperspirants, but they often don鈥檛 work or have unwanted side effects. For example, surgery to stop sweating from the palms and armpits can lead to sweating from other areas of the body instead.
An increasingly popular alternative is injections of botulinum toxin 鈥� sold under the trade name Botox 鈥� to block the nerves that are responsible for sweating. This works well for many people but can be extremely painful 鈥� even when anaesthetic is used 鈥� because needles have to be repeatedly inserted at 1-centimetre intervals across the sensitive palms and armpits.
Needle-free alternative
To overcome this drawback, Hyoung Moon Kim at Maylin skin clinic in South Korea and his colleagues have invented a needle-free alternative that shoots liquid Botox into the skin with a high-pressure jet nozzle.
They tested the device on 20 people with severe palm or armpit sweating, or both, and found that the nozzle successfully delivered Botox into their skin. One month later, the participants said that their sweating had mostly disappeared from their palms and armpits, which was confirmed by chemical tests of their skin.
The study did not compare conventional injections with the high-pressure jet nozzle, but Kim says the new device was less painful than conventional Botox injections. The study participants reported an average pain rating of just 16 out of 100 when it was applied to their armpits and 33 out of 100 when it was applied to their palms. No other side effects were reported.
The researchers will have to do a bigger study that directly compares conventional Botox injections with the new technique to confirm that the latter is less painful and still works as well, says Eisman. 鈥淚t certainly looks like an encouraging option if a larger study confirms its efficacy,鈥� she says.
Skin Research and Technology
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