What is hyperhidrosis?
As we know, sweating is an essential mechanism to regulate body temperature. However, for some people, this mechanism is overactive – i.e. the person sweats much more than it is necessary to regulate the temperature without any usual triggers (heat, anxiety, nervousness etc).
How Hyperhidrosis Impacts Patients?
For those with hyperhidrosis, excessive sweating happens nearly all the time — even if they are relaxing in cool temperatures. It can be so severe, in fact, that it may require a frequent change of clothes just to get through the day. Such excessive sweating can be embarrassing, uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing. But it's not just a cosmetic or hygiene issue; hyperhidrosis also have real social or occupational consequences, ranging from slippery handshakes to hard-to-grip steering wheels.
It can disrupt all aspects of a person's life, from career choices and recreational activities to relationships, emotional well-being, and self-image. This kind of excessive sweating is a serious medical condition. It's called hyperhidrosis and it afflicts millions of people around the world (approximately 3% of the population) but because of lack of awareness, a large proportion of these people are never diagnosed or treated for their symptoms.
1 Comment
Many people don’t know what hyperhidrosis is. You’d be surprised, really. I think a good solution would be to educate children in schools – teach them what hyperhidrosis is, and that it’s something completely normal – something that a small part of population suffers from, and they can’t really help it, and that is should be tolerated, and that’s it. I wrote a forum post about how my son’s school took care of hyperhidrosis bullying. I think more schools should do that.