I. What is hand sweating? Hand sweating is a symptom of excessive sweating of the hands. For example, in the examination room where every second counts, when everyone is studying hard, some people have to waste time wiping their sweaty hands to avoid getting their test papers wet; when helping customers to perform certain services that require both hands, such as beauty care, haircut, skin care, you have to worry about your sweaty hands causing When someone extends his or her warm palm to shake your hand, you have to think about whether or not to hand out your cold, wet hand; these are all problems caused by hand sweating. Hand sweating is a rather common type of functional abnormal localized sweating of unknown origin. The secretion of sweat glands in the body is controlled by the sympathetic nerves, and hand sweating is caused by an abnormal increase in palm sweating due to unexplained excessive sympathetic tension, such as tension, excitement, and stress. The treatment of hand sweating has been replaced by thoracoscopic sympathectomy. Although hand sweating is not a serious disease, the constant excessive sweating and the embarrassment it causes make the patient in helplessness, anxiety or panic every day, bringing great inconvenience to the patient’s work, social life and life, and seriously affecting the patient’s self-confidence. The patient’s psychological suffering is so great that it is difficult for ordinary people to understand. Why do you get hand sweating? The causes of hand sweating are generally divided into two categories, the majority of which are primary and only a very small number of which are secondary. The so-called primary hand sweating means that there is no specific reason for it, just as some people are taller and some are shorter, and the amount of sweating varies from person to person. The sympathetic nervous system of people with hand sweating is more responsive than others. The sympathetic nervous system controls the secretion of our sweat glands and the contraction of blood vessels, so when we are nervous, even in a hot environment, we sweat much more than the average person, and the underlying cause is not yet known. Third, does hand sweating need to be treated? Hand sweating is basically a physical problem that has no direct effect on health. The need for surgical treatment depends on the size of the problem caused by hand sweating. Excessive hand sweating can seriously affect school, social life, and work, and can cause significant distress. The greater the disturbance, the more treatment is needed. What are the treatment options for hand sweating? The treatment for hand sweating can be divided into medical therapy and surgical therapy. Internal therapy: there are medications or ionic immersion, oral sympathetic nerve inhibitors, etc., but they cannot really improve. To cure hand sweating, surgery is by far the best way to go. The traditional surgical method of cutting the thoracic sympathetic nerve, which innervates the sweat glands in the hands and armpits, can immediately reduce or stop sweating in the hands and armpits, but it requires an incision about 20 cm long in each side of the chest wall, which is very traumatic, bleeding, painful and long for the patient to stay in the hospital. In contrast, thoracoscopy is used to treat hand sweating without opening the chest, and only two small incisions of 1-1.5 cm are made in the axilla of each side of the chest wall, through which the thoracoscope is inserted. The patient had almost no bleeding and minimal pain. The patient’s hand sweating was immediately eliminated 3 minutes after surgery and he was discharged from the hospital in 2-3 days. There are three types of thoracoscopic surgery for hand sweating: 1) sympathectomy, 2) sympathectomy, and 3) sympathectomy. All of these surgical procedures have the advantages of small incisions with “keyhole” size, less trauma, less pain and less scarring. They can be recovered quickly and do not affect the aesthetics. However, when comparing the three procedures, sympathectomy is prone to postoperative compensatory sweating, and sympathectomy is not a complete treatment. Thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is a precise removal of the nerve location according to the patient’s specific condition and sweating area, and no blood transfusion is required during the operation. The postoperative complication rate is minimized while “tailor-made”. Thoracoscopic sympathectomy is already a minor operation for the doctors of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Shanghai Long March Hospital Cardiothoracic Hospital, where thoracoscopic technology has been mature for a long time. How high is the success rate of thoracoscopic surgery for hand sweating? The success rate of thoracoscopic surgery for hand sweating is very high. The main reason for this failure is that the patient has suffered from pneumonia, trauma or other chest diseases that cause pleural adhesions in the past, making it impossible for the endoscope to see the sympathetic nerve and therefore unable to complete the surgery. After surgical treatment, most patients’ symptoms disappear immediately after surgery. The cure rate is high and the return to normal work life is quick. Long-term pain disappears immediately, and the patient’s self-confidence increases rapidly, so that he or she can soon dissolve into normal social life, interpersonal communication and work. 6. Is there any danger in thoracoscopic surgery for hand sweating? There are potential dangers associated with any surgery, and the same applies to hand sweating surgery. The main risks include anesthesia accidents and the risks associated with the surgery itself. The chances of anesthetic drug accidents are very low. The surgery itself, on the other hand, can lead to accidents such as hemorrhage, lung injury, celiac disease, etc., but it is quite rare for these dangers or complications to actually occur. However, no matter what kind of complications occur, when they do, they are very painful for the patient. Therefore, when choosing a hospital for the procedure, it is important to pay attention to the comparison of strengths. Seven, what are the side effects of thoracoscopic surgery for hand sweating? 1. More or less compensatory sweating will occur after the surgery, that is, the sweat originally discharged from the hands will be discharged from other parts instead. Generally, the palms of the hands are almost completely sweat-free after surgery, while the sweating of the arms, armpits, head and face is greatly reduced, and the sweating of the abdominal back and thighs will increase more or less after surgery. This situation is more pronounced in the hot summer and is generally not a major problem, but a few patients may have difficulty with compensatory sweating. Once compensatory sweating has occurred, it cannot be undone in any way, and this is something that patients with hand sweating must understand before surgery. Another possible side effect is less sweating of the face, drooping eyelids, and smaller pupils. How long does it take to be hospitalized for surgery? Usually, you will be examined on the day of admission, operated on the second day, and discharged on the third or fourth day. The entire hospitalization process is usually completed in 3-4 days.