Hyperhidrosis
(Excessive Sweating)
Hyperhidrosis is a disorder that defines individuals who sweat more than the body would normally need to maintain optimal temperature.

Hyperhidrosis affects approximately 3% of the population - some 950,000 Canadians.

It has been previously disregarded as a natural body reaction that most sufferers learn to live with and compensate for in lifestyle, but it has also been shown to seriously affect quality of life. Many sufferers must be conscious of their sweating when making decisions about daily activities. Sweating hands, underarms, feet or face can give the wrong impression in business and personal situations. It can have an emotional, social, and physical impact on sufferers.

What Causes Hyperhidrosis?
There are two types of hyperhidrosis.
Focal Hyperhidrosis: also known as primary hyperhidrosis, has an unknown cause. This type of hyperhidrosis is localized to one or more of the following areas:
• Underarms (axillary hyperhidrosis)
• Hands (paimar hyperhidrosis)
• Feet (plantar hyperhidrosis)
• Face (facial hyperhidrosis)

Although this type of hyperhidrosis has an unknown cause, the way it affects sufferers appears to be related to over-activity of the central nervous system thereby causing an overactive stimulation of local sweat glands.

Generalized Hyperhidrosis: also known as secondary hyperhidrosis is actually caused by another underlying condition (e.g. endocrine disorders, menopause, obesity, nerve damage, and rarely, some types of drugs). This type of hyperhidrosis generally occurs over the whole body and is usually treated by addressing the underlying condition. Therefore, the vast majority of information contained within this brochure pertains to treatment of focal hyperhidrosis.

BOTOX® Injections
BOTOX® injections are appropriate for moderate to severe hyperhidrosis sufferers.

Injection with BOTOX@ interrupts the signal from the nerve to the sweat gland to reduce the sweating in the area that is affected. The injection is done with a very flne needle and, for treatment of the underarms, face and head, anaesthesia is often not required as the procedure is virtually painless. For treatment of the hands and feet, local anaesthesia is used to avoid injection discomfort.

The percent reduction in sweating in clinical study was 83% in 95% of participants. The effect of treatment can be immediate or take up to a week, with the average duration of effect after a single treatment being 7 months; 30% of patients have effects lasting longer than a year. Your sweating will gradually return, and your own comfort will dictate when you should repeat treatment.

Side effects, if they occur, are temporary. A rare reported side effect that may be perceived is increased sweating in other areas. Other side effects may include pain at the site of injection.