It’s your big day! But instead of focusing on the glory of your spotlight, you’re worrying about underarm sweat. A million thoughts cloud your mind: What combination of tops will best hide my wet marks? How should I choreograph my arm raises? When can I sneak off to the bathroom for another clandestine swipe of antiperspirant?
With hyperhidrosis, your body never fails to sabotage your big moments. Excessive unpredictable sweating can control your decisions, damage confidence, and negatively affect your career and your social life. Find out how Botox can help you reclaim your life from hyperhidrosis.
Why We Sweat
So you sweat. What’s the big deal? It’s something you’ve heard a lot. If only they knew the day-to-day reality of your experience.
Normal sweating occurs for thermoregulation and as a response to an emotional state. When your environment is warm or when you exercise, the sympathetic nervous system signals your sweat glands to produce sweat in order to cool off. Normal sweating can also occur when you feel an uncomfortable emotion: nervousness, anger, embarrassment, or fear. In this case, an increase in epinephrine secretion from your adrenal gland signals your sweat glands to turn on.
Cause of Hyperhidrosis
Hyperhidrosis, however, is a medical mystery. With hyperhidrosis, sweat glands are overactive. They produce excessive sweat not necessarily for thermoregulation or as a response to an emotional state. The biological cause of this type of sweating is not yet understood.
Excessive Sweating
Hyperhidrosis is nothing like normal sweating. You’ll sweat excessively when you’re resting, when your environment is cool, and when you least expect it. Picture this: You’re going about your day, not at all embarrassed. But suddenly you begin sweating profusely. Now that you’re sweating, you’re embarrassed that others think you’re embarrassed when you’re not actually embarrassed. Confused? Yea, hyperhidrosis can cause a twisted series of mixed signals and a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
Individuals with hyperhidrosis sweat 4-5 times more than the average person. Excessive sweating and the time spent managing and hiding sweat can be disruptive. It becomes an intrusive factor in all areas of life, interfering with normal activities and limiting decisions.
- It affects clothing choices. You might wear layers, dark colors, and cotton to hide sweat marks.
- It requires planning ahead. You may carry a change of clothes, extra antiperspirant, or towels wherever you go.
- It interferes with work, social life and physical activities. You might avoid situations where you’ll have to lift your arms, stand in front of an audience, or meet new people.
The consequences of hyperhidrosis often stretch far beyond the time spent managing and thinking about sweat. Hyperhidrosis often negatively impacts an individual’s confidence and emotions.
Hyperhidrosis Treatment
Botox is an FDA-approved treatment for excessive underarm sweat. Once injected into your underarm, Botox can temporarily stop excessive sweating for 4-6 months. People often wonder where the sweat goes or if it gets backed up only to be released later. The answer is Botox simply turns off the nerves that send signals to stimulate your sweat glands. In other words, excessive sweat is never produced.
Instead of relying on heavy-duty antiperspirants, which can cause skin irritation or damage delicate clothing, you can tackle the source of sweat and temporarily turn it off. And instead of taking a pill every day to manage hyperhidrosis, you can have one Botox treatment for hyperhidrosis that’ll last a few months.
Contact BodyLase® for a consultation to find out more about Botox and hyperhidrosis.
