Control of palmar hyperhidrosis with a new "dry-type" iontophoretic device.

BACKGROUND: Palmar hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating on the palm, and among the various treatment modalities, tap water iontophoresis has been widely used.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a new "dry-type" iontophoretic device that was locally manufactured and did not use tap water to control sweating.

METHODS: Ten subjects with palmar hyperhidrosis were enrolled in this study. To be treated the patients were instructed that they only have to grasp the device. Only one palm was treated for 2 weeks, and then the treatment was discontinued the following next 2 weeks. The other palm was not treated as a control. At the end of second week, biopsy specimens were obtained from untreated and treated palm, respectively, and examined histologically.

RESULTS: Nine of 10 patients were satisfied with this therapy reducing their sweat outputs from 33% to 51% of baseline at the end of 2 weeks' treatment, and after 2 weeks of discontinuation of treatment sweat productions returned to near baseline. The pathologic examinations showed some occlusions and destruction of intraepithelial eccrine ducts only in the treated palm.

CONCLUSION: We suggest that dry-type iontophoresis could reduce palmar sweating more conveniently than other conventional methods.