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NHS Choices Condition

Content supplied by NHS Choices

Hyperhidrosis is defined as sweating more than is needed to keep your body temperature regulated.

There is no precise measure of how much sweat is ‘normal’, but if you feel you sweat excessively and it has started to interfere with your normal daily activities and social life, you may have hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis can interfere with normal activities in a number of ways and someone with the condition may:

  • be reluctant to shake hands or have other physical contact,
  • be reluctant to take part in recreational activities for fear they will make the sweating worse, or
  • become socially withdrawn and self-consciousness.

The most common areas of the body affected by focal hyperhidrosis are the armpits, feet, palms and face.

Most people with hyperhidrosis have at least one episode of excessive sweating a week.

For reasons that are not fully understood, people with primary hyperhidrosis do not usually experience sweating at night.

view information about Hyperhidrosis on www.nhs.co.uk »

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