Excessive Sweating / HyperhidrosisNewstead, Brisbane

Hyperhidrosis is sweating that goes well beyond what your body needs to stay cool. An assessment works out which areas are affected, what is driving the sweat, and how much it gets in the way of daily life. Sweat comes from the eccrine glands, the tiny sweat glands found across most of the skin, with the most on the palms, soles, and underarms. These glands respond to signals from the autonomic nervous system, the part of the body that runs in the background without you thinking about it. In most people, the glands stay quiet until the body genuinely needs to cool down. With hyperhidrosis, the signal to those glands stays switched on more than the temperature calls for. What you notice, sweat patches, dripping palms, a damp scalp, can also sit alongside related concerns such as skin laxity or facial flushing.

Hyperhidrosis usually comes from one of two sources. The first is primary focal hyperhidrosis, which means heavy sweating in a particular area with no medical cause behind it. It seems to come from an overactive nerve signal rather than any problem with the glands themselves, which are completely normal. It often starts in childhood or the teenage years, and around a third to a half of people with it have a family member with the same pattern. Most people describe it in simple terms: sweaty palms, sweaty feet, constant underarm sweat, patches that show through clothes, or a damp face that does not match the room. It tends to stay in set areas, most often the underarms, palms, soles, and the face or scalp, in roughly that order.

The second is secondary hyperhidrosis, which tends to start in adulthood and is usually driven by something else going on in the body. Common triggers include hormonal change, an overactive thyroid, some medicines, infections, and changes in weight. On the hormonal side, that means the hot flushes and night sweats around menopause, or the slower shifts in men with age. The medicines can include certain antidepressants and diabetes medicines. The cause can sit in the nerves, in the glands, or in the hormones that drive both. Sometimes it shows up alongside men's aesthetic concerns, where hormones play a part. This is one reason interest in treating sweating without surgery has grown so much, especially approaches that calm the nerve signal reaching the glands rather than the sweat that has already formed.

Hyperhidrosis affects men and women in roughly equal numbers, but it can look a little different. In men, the sweat glands tend to be larger and more active, output is often higher, and the underarms are commonly involved. In women, the glands are usually smaller but more tightly packed, and the hormonal changes around perimenopause and menopause can bring new facial flushing and body sweating that were not there before. Sweaty palms and soles affect both fairly equally, and they are often the most disruptive, because they get in the way of handshakes, phones, shoes, and clothes. Taking these differences into account is what lets an assessment match your own pattern, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Our Newstead clinic looks after people from across Brisbane, including New Farm, Teneriffe, Fortitude Valley, Hamilton, Ascot, and the wider inner north.