• Won Oak Kim, Hae Keum Kil, Kyung Bong Yoon, and Ko Un Noh.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Anesthesia and Pain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. wokim@yumc.yonsei.ac.kr
• Dermatol Surg. 2009 May 1; 35 (5): 833-8; discussion 838.

BackgroundSevere compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) in the trunk occurs after sympathectomy in some patients. Limited treatment options for these cases have been proposed, and the overall results have been disappointing, but injection of botulinum toxin-A (BTX-A) is an emerging, reliable treatment method for focal hyperhidrosis.ObjectiveTo demonstrate the efficacy, longevity, and safety of BTX-A injection for severe truncal sweating in CH patients who were refractory to conventional treatment.MethodsSeventeen patients were injected with 100 to 500 U of BTX-A in the truncal area. After the follow-up period, the Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS) for efficacy and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) were measured for improvement in patients' quality of life.ResultsThe baseline mean HDSS score+/-standard deviation was 3.6+/-0.5, and the sweating resolved within 5 days. The effect was sustained for 2 to 8 months (4.1+/-1.5 months) and the baseline DLQI score of 9.4+/-2.0 fell to 2.8+/-1.0. No serious side effects or adverse events resulted from the treatment.ConclusionsBTX-A injection was a well-tolerated, effective, and safe method for treating severe truncal CH, although the considerable cost and limited duration of the treatment effects were major disadvantages.

17 keywords...

hide…