Botox is the New Antiperspirant

If you struggle with sweaty armpits, you’re not alone. Excessive sweating, a condition called hyperhidrosis affects close to 3% of the U.S. population. And even if you’re lucky enough to not be in that group, basic sweating, caused by hereditary traits, health and even environmental factors affects a much larger group of Americans.

If you’ve tried every natural, and industrial, strength antiperspirant around and you’re coming up short on solutions to summertime sweating, Botox might be your next step.

Botox has been a go-to treatment for excessive sweating since at least 2004, but it’s growing in popularity as a basic beauty maintenance item for less serious cases as well. Celebrities use it before awards season to avoid staining their couture loaner dresses with deodorant, and non-jet-setters are using it to streamline morning routines and take their beauty game to the next level.

So how does it work?

Botox blocks acetylcholine, an important transmitter the body uses to help muscles contract. In the face, injections of Botox prevent the tiny contractions that cause wrinkles. The same process is at work when Botox is used in the armpits to stop sweat, except that it acts on sweat glands rather than muscles. When Botox blocks the chemical “message” telling underarm glands to secrete sweat, they don’t.

What can you expect?

Botox is a treatment that is used to target highly specific areas in the skin. And Botox used to stop underarm sweating won’t prevent your body from carrying out its normal perspiration. Treatments take only 10 minutes and effects last about six to nine months. Botox used in the underarm area requires different techniques and amounts to be used – than the kind of procedures you might be familiar with if you use it for wrinkle prevention and reduction. The injections tend to be slightly deeper and require less nuance than facial treatments.

Watch NDDA’s Dr. Rachel Gordon use Botox to treat underarm sweating . . .