What Is Plantar Hyperhidrosis?
What Is Plantar Hyperhidrosis?
Briefly, plantar relates to the feet, and hyper-hidrosis is excessive sweating. So Plantar Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating of the feet… very sweaty feet. Usually the issue isn’t restricted to just the feet, and often occurs with Palmar Hyperhidrosis, excess sweating of the hands and Axillary Hyperhidrosis, excess sweating of the armpits.
What Causes Plantar Hyperhidrosis?
It’s thought that both plantar and palmar hyperhidrosis are cauced by an overactive sympathetic nervous system. Basically, instead of only sweating when the body requires it, a person with plantar and palmar hyperhidrosis will generate sweat in response to normal situations, even when sweating isn’t required for body cooling.
What Problems Does Plantar Hyperhidrosis Cause?
There are some specific problems that relate to plantar hyperhidrosis and not other kinds of excessive sweating. For example, feet are normally not exposed to the outside world, but are trapped in socks and shoes… at least for most people, which exacerbates the sweating and can make the foot a very humid area, increasing the susceptibility to fungus such as athlete’s foot, blisters and infection. Often the excess sweat will cause bad foot odor (odour) if not regularly washed. Slippery feet can also be a problem when walking, running, dancing or driving, all of which become more dangerous.
What Treatments Are There For Plantar Hyperhidrosis?
There are broadly three types of treatment for Plantar Hyperhidrosis.
- Sympathectomy, which is a surgical procedure and not to be undergone lightly
- Drugs such as Robinul which have side effects such as drying out areas you don’t want to be dry!
- Natural hyperhydrosis treatments and remedies that are usually low cost and low risk.
Before considering surgery or drugs, it is strongly advised that someone thinking they have plantar hyperhidrosis should consider using natural treatments and remedies and, if they fail, consult a heath professional. We recommend the ebook, “Stop Sweating and Start Living” by Mike Ramsay as an excellent way to learn all about hyperhidrosis and what you can do to control your sweating naturally and cheaply.