Treatment of hyperhidrosis of the hands and feet

  Hyperhidrosis affects 0.6% to 1% of the population, about 30% of young people suffer from hand sweating as the main manifestation of hyperhidrosis, the disease has a family tendency of up to 12.5%, most patients with hyperhidrosis since early childhood, the symptoms gradually aggravated by adolescence, seriously affecting academic life, affecting psychological development.   The main manifestation of hyperhidrosis is the long-term wetness of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and in severe cases, dripping sweat and pale, bloodless palms of the hands and feet. Some patients have more frontal sweating. The cause of hyperhidrosis is unknown, but the mechanism is hyperfunction of the sympathetic nervous system, which increases the secretion of sweat by the exocrine glands.  The treatment of hyperhidrosis has had many Chinese and Western medical methods, but the results are not exact. The invention of thoracic sympathetic nerve chain dissection is based on the development of neuroanatomy and physiology, which began in 1920 with open-heart surgery, which was more traumatic, had more complications, and affected the aesthetics. In 1995, the procedure was applied in China, with excellent results, relieving patients of many years of physical and mental problems.  The thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is performed with general anesthesia, and the patient’s postoperative fatigue is greatly reduced by the semi-sitting position during the operation. After the operation, the wound is closed cosmetically and no suture removal is required. The patient can be discharged from the hospital 2 days after the operation and engage in normal life and work. In our clinical study, we found that some patients’ foot sweat disappeared at the same time. At present, we have further simplified the procedure and completed the operation in about half an hour. Postoperative complications are greatly reduced and we have targeted the corresponding nerve segments in patients with high foot sweating with ideal results.  A common complication after TV thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is compensatory hyperhidrosis, i.e., no sweating of the hands and feet, with increased sweating of the trunk and thighs compared to the previous one, with an incidence of 20%, which usually resolves in 7-15 days after surgery and does not need to be treated; some patients may have short-term hypothermia with reduced sweating of the whole body after surgery, which may resolve on its own. A serious complication is Horner’s syndrome, which is caused by surgical injury to the stellate ganglion and manifests as no sweating on the injured side of the face, drooping eyelids, loss of nasolabial folds, and loss of frontal lines, which can be avoided by careful operation. All patients have dry palms in the cold season after surgery and must use hand cream frequently. This technique, developed from the original sympathectomy, is less invasive, faster recovery, simpler and safer surgery, and is the only way to cure hand sweating and axillary and foot sweating.