Hyperhidrosis Treatment
For 15 year old Courtney Williamson, playing the piano has always been a favorite pastime, until she began struggling to keep her hands on the keys. "I couldn't play a song correctly because they'd just slip off the keys. You can see the sweat dripping off my hand." says Courtney Williamson. She has a condition known as hyperhidrosis. A new hyperhidrosis treatment helps people get over the embarrassment and stigma of the disease.
Cindy has suffered from hyperhidrosis since she was a child. Hyperhidrosis is a neurological condition caused by an overactive sympathetic nervous system, which controls sweating. The condition causes excessive sweating, usually of the hands, armpits and feet, making it very difficult to perform even simple acts such as shaking hands.
"It made me feel like I was the odd one, like I could never touch anyone's hands. I was afraid for people to touch my hands." says Cindy. According to Dr. Jack Jallo, a neurosurgeon at Temple University Hospital, "People develop an anxiety about their social interactions because they are self-conscious regarding the sweating."
But thanks to a new hyperhidrosis treatment, people with the condition can get rid of it. It is a surgical procedure called Endoscopic Tran-thoracic Sympathectomy, also known as ETS. The hyperhidrosis treatment works by destroying the nerves controlling the excessive sweating. "The surgical hyperhidrosis treatment known as ETS cures people of the excessive sweating." says Dr. Jallo.
ETS is a minimally invasive procedure done through two very small incisions on the side of the chest. Using an endoscope, tiny silver clips are placed across the upper thoracic sympathetic chain inside the chest. Sweating in the hands is usually immediately and permanently eliminated. "Once you've had it and you've eliminated this excessive sweating, it doesn't require any ongoing hyperhidrosis treatment." explains Dr. Jallo.
Ointments and astringents that tend to dry up the sweat glands are usually the first course of hyperhidrosis treatment. Injections of Botox are also used to decrease the transmission of nerve impulses to the sweat glands. "For those who have severe hyperhidrosis who haven't responded to other hyperhidrosis treatments, surgery is an excellent route." says Dr. Jallo.
It has certainly proved to be for Courtney. "It's definitely been a miracle, I feel so relieved that I can actually touch someone's hands and not have to apologize for the sweat." According to Dr. Jallo, ETS is very effective as a hyperhidrosis treatment. Patients are usually sent home the day after surgery, normal activities can be resumed within a couple of days and the quarter inch incisions on both sides of the chest are barely noticeable within a few weeks.
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