Excessive sweating is referred to medically as hyperhidrosis. People with hyperhidrosis may sweat as much as three or four times as much as others. While it usually affects the armpits, hands, feet and face, it can affect any area of skin except for the lips, external ear canal and sex organs. Hyperhidrosis can be a source of embarrassment for many people, and may have social, professional and emotional ramifications. While the exact cause is not known, researchers have linked the condition to over activity in the nerves that control the sweat glands.

The treatment of hyperhidrosis depends on the areas of the skin that are affected. In general, the condition is treated with topical and oral medication, electrical currents, Botox injections or surgery. Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix have investigated the effectiveness of one type of surgery, called thoracoscopic sympathectomy, for the treatment of hyperhidrosis of the hands and armpits.

Thoracoscopic sympathectomy is a minimally invasive procedure in which tiny surgical instruments and a fiberoptic camera are inserted through small incisions of about a half inch or less in length. The surgeon uses the camera to identify the nerves causing the excessive sweating, and the nerves are cut.

The researchers analyzed the thoracoscopic sympathectomy surgeries for 300 patients with hyperhidrosis. Of these patients, 129 had hyperhidrosis of the hands, 11 had hyperhidrosis of the armpits and 160 suffered from excessive sweating of both the hands and armpits.

The treatment was successful in 99.3 percent of patients with hyperhidrosis in the hands and 61 percent of patients with hyperhidrosis of the armpits. There were low incidents of side-effects overall. The most common side effect was the development of compensatory hyperhidrosis, which occurred in 16 patients. These patients began to sweat excessively in other parts of the body, such as the chest, back or legs.

The study was presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in April.

Copyright 2007 iVillage Total Health.