Adrian Richards, Leading Plastic Surgeon for Aurora Clinics explains the causes of Excessive Sweating also known as Hyperhidrosis and the effect on people who suffer from this condition. Should you want to schedule a FREE Consultation with our specialist surgeon to treat this condition, please ring us on 01844 214362.

Hyperhidrosis – Causes of Excessive Sweating

Hello. My name is Adrian Richards. I’m the Director of Aurora Skin Clinics. Today I’m going to be talking about hyperhidrosis, which is also known as excessive sweating. So excessive sweating can occur to normal individuals, obviously in hot weather or in nervous situations. Hyperhidrosis is a condition which is characterised by really excessive sweating, over and above what is normal. The places you typically get it are the armpits or underarm area, the feet, and the soles of the hands. You can get it in other areas, such as the small of the back and the face, particularly the hairline and the scalp. But the most common area is really the axilla, or underarm area.

Now, why do we sweat? Basically, there are two types of sweat. There are two types of sweat glands, eccrine sweat glands and apocrine sweat glands. Eccrine sweat glands, E-C-C-R-I-N-E sweat glands, produce a thin watery sweat. Apocrine sweat glands produce a more thick, viscous, smelly, oily sweat. So the sweat glands we’re talking about involved in hyperhidrosis are the eccrine sweat glands, which produce the watery, non-smelly sweat. So, people with hyperhidrosis have an abnormal innervation to these sweat glands. So in heat, nervous situations, or just for no reason, these sweat glands are turned on.

Why are they turned on? I often tell my patients that it’s really sort of faulty wiring, that the nerve impulses, which normally switch the sweat glands on when it’s hot, when you need to lose weight, reduce heat by evaporation, are switched on even when they shouldn’t be. This really causes excess sweating which can be really very severe.

So hyperhidrosis, the severity is classified into four main groups, ranging from group one, which is, “I rarely sweat, and then I have a problem with it,” to four, which is, “I have a lot of excess sweating, and it bothers me on a daily basis.” So, excess sweating normally comes on in teenage years, uncontrollable sweating, and makes it very difficult in social situations. Often our patients find it very difficult to wear any clothes other than dark clothes. They wear baggy clothes, and they find it very difficult to wear light coloured clothes.

So, hyperhidrosis is really quite debilitating for a number of people. The really severe hyperhidrosis affects 3% to 4% of the population, but a greater number are affected with slightly more moderate sweating. In later videos, I’m going to be talking about treatment options for hyperhidrosis, and I hope you’ll find what I’ve said interesting and useful, and I encourage you to view the further videos to get more insight into how the problem can be treated. Thank you.