- Hi, I'm Dr. Sara Mullen
from The Victorian Cosmetic Institute.
And today, I'm going to be talking about excessive sweating.
This is quite a debilitating condition for a lot of people.
The medical term for it is hyperhidrosis,
and it probably effects about two to five percent of
the population.
Most of the time it is a genetic thing,
it's familial with no underlying sort of illness.
And, most people say that it starts in their teen years.
Excessive sweating can occur on any part of the body.
A lot of people complain that it's under their arms,
the palms of their hands, the soles of their feet,
their scalp and even their face.
It can be an exceptionally embarrassing condition
and a lot of my clients are even embarrassed or frightened
to shake somebody's hand.
They only can wear only certain colors
or materials in their clothing.
And even I have some patients who slip out of their shoes.
By the time that they arrive to us, the majority of our
patients have exhausted all the
over the counter preparations.
And they really are at their wits end.
Surprisingly, and not many people are aware of this,
but you can use anti-wrinkle injections
to treat excessive sweating.
It's done in the clinic, it's safe,
it's quick, with minimal discomfort, and little downtime.
The injections can take anywhere from one to four weeks
to take affect, and my patients can be sweat free
for six to nine months.
Okay, today we have Sibyl here, one of my patients
who has been suffering from excessive sweating
since her teens in her armpits.
So, we're going to use the anti-wrinkle injections
to try and help her.
So, we usually find out exactly where they're sweating
and we have an idea when we're actually looking at the area.
Most people don't just sweat in the central part of
the armpit, but they do tend to sweat right up
into the upper part of the arm and even down into the torso.
So, we got to make sure that we cover all those areas.
When I figured out exactly where Sybil is sweating
I will be drawing a grid pattern so that we make sure
that the anti-wrinkle injections are
covering all those areas.
So, I'll do that now.
Okay.
Alright, the injections are put just underneath the
surface of the skin.
Because this is where the sebaceous glands are that
causes the sweating.
Okay, so we're going to start off.
Just going to put a little bit under there,
and I want you to tell me Sybil how that feels.
Do you feel that?
- Not really.
- Not really?
A little bit?
- Yeah.
- But you're quite comfortable with it?
- Yeah.
- Okay, sometimes if people are a little bit nervous too
we can put, give them some laughing gas
and that just makes them feel a little bit comfortable
about the situation.
And also, it's a quick onset quick offset so that
they can actually drive home.
As you can see,
I'm just doing a grid pattern, making sure that
I cover all those areas.
As I said before the majority of people don't
have any problems, no downtime.
But occasionally, anytime you do put a needle
into the skin you might get a little bruise.
And of course in this area if we do develop
a little bruise it's usually very minimal,
looks like a freckle.
Most people will not notice it in the armpit,
and it usually disappears within ten days time.
You feeling okay?
- Yeah, yep.
- As you can see Sybil is very relaxed.
I think most people are frightened of the idea
than the actual reality of it.
They're very tiny insulin needles that we use as well.
Okay, so that arm's all done.
So, we'll wipe off the marks
and then we'll start on the other side.