What You Should Know If You’ve Been Diagnosed With Hyperhidrosis

Hyperhidrosis is a common medical condition, one that is characterized by the presence of excessive sweating among its sufferers. In fact, this condition impacts up to 3% of the total population of the United States at any given time and does not seem to favor men or women more than the other. However, it must be noted that hyperhidrosis tends to strike in the adult years, as it has been found to be by and large the most common among those who fall between the age range of 25 years of age and 64 years old (which is still quite wide, of course). For many of the eight million people in the United States who live with this condition, for many there is a genetic link. After all, no fewer than 30% (and up to half) of all people with hyperhidrosis will be able to note a family member having the same condition, suggesting a genetic link for the continuation of the condition.

Fortunately, hyperhidrosis is not necessarily a dangerous condition and is certainly not a deadly one. This does not mean, however, that it has no impact at all on the lives of those who suffer from it. Hyperhidrosis can reduce your confidence in yourself and can make it hard to feel physically attractive or even be as engaged in the world as you would like. Many people suffering from this condition will often try to cover it up and conceal it by wearing many layers of clothing at once, something that can certainly be quite uncomfortable, especially during the warmer parts of the year and in various warmer climates found throughout the country.

Fortunately, treatments for hyperhidrosis are becoming more widely available and accessible than ever before, especially here in the United States. Treatments for hyperhidrosis can vary quite considerably and treating hyperhidrosis will look somewhat different for each person who suffers from it. For instance, treatments for hyperhidrosis for some people might just involve using an extra strength deodorant. In some cases, having one clinically prescribed will make all the difference for many a patient. However, many patients with this condition will have much more of a severe case, making it difficult to treat it with topical treatments alone. Therefore, more intensive treatments for hyperhidrosis will be necessary.

Iontophoresis is one of these widely known and widely utilized – and widely effective, for that matter – treatments for hyperhidrosis. And it’s one of the treatments for hyperhidrosis that has been around the longest. As a matter of fact, iontophoresis actually dates back all the way to more than half of a century ago. In the years that have elapsed since, the iontophoresis machines used have become more and more advanced, of course, but the essential parts of the treatment have very much remained the same.

And iontophoresis as one of the main treatments for hyperhidrosis is hugely impactful in the lives of so many hyperhidrosis sufferers, at least all throughout the United States but likely in places outside of it as well. After all, iontophoresis works by shutting down the sweat glands and typically no more than ten treatments will be needed to do this. In some cases, perhaps the less severe ones, only about six or so treatments will end up being called for. However, some patients with particularly severe cases of hyperhidrosis might need one or more treatments a week at least in the beginning. After this intensive period of treatment, it will likely be recommended for the treatments to be much more spaced out. However, most of these treatments will last no more than 20 minutes and sometimes even as few as ten, making them quite easy indeed to fit within the day for the vast majority of all people – and certainly well worth it, as well.

Hyperhidrosis can certainly be hard to live with. After all, up to 90% of all people with this condition have reported that they feel sad and sometimes depressed or in other ways impacted in an overall emotional way, all thanks to their hyperhidrosis. Pursuing treatments can be groundbreaking in how it can improve the mental state of the patient and therefore treatments for hyperhidrosis matter.