Botox For Facial Sweating

Botox For Facial Sweating

Facial hyperhidrosis is a genetic condition that causes excessive sweating in the face. It usually develops in early adolescence and continues through life unless the condition is treated. Generally, it is less common for hyperhidrosis to affect the face as opposed to the underarms or the palms of the hands, but it is still a problem that approximately 1% of the population.

Excessive facial sweating can cause great social embarrassment, sometimes causing sufferers to avoid social events. Many sufferers keep their hair short and it can prove to be a very troublesome problem for women in particular, preventing them from wearing make-up (after all, no one wants track lines running down their face).  Facial hyperhidrosis can also end up affected the scalp and the next as well, drenching the top part of the body with hot or cold sweat and making hat or scarf wearing quite difficult.

Many people believe that facial hyperhidrosis is caused by being overweight but this is a misconception. As mentioned before, it is a genetic condition.

How Can Botox Be Used To Treat Facial Hyperhidrosis?

Botox injections can work quite well when applied to the face or head, though the treatment isn’t something a lot of physicians are experienced at, so it’s necessary to find one who has the right skill. The face tends to have a denser nerve supply, so it is sometimes difficult to gauge what the correct dosage is.

A number of small injections of Botox are administered to the face in order to stop the release of acetylcholine from the sympathetic nerves that causes sweat to be produced. Usually around 10-20 injections will be sufficient in order to see a noticeable difference.

With Botox for facial hyperhidrosis there is occasionally a risk of asymmetry in the face, particularly the forehead. This occurs when some of the Botox units diffuse into the facial muscles, but this side effect is normally only temporary. It can also be corrected with more Botox injections.

The results last for around 6-12 months.