A San Juan Capistrano dermatologist is treating patients with a new procedure that minimizes excessive sweating by destroying sweat glands. Dr. Jeffrey Klein is the only doctor who has the MiraDry device in Orange County, according to the company, Miramar Labs. The Food and Drug Administration approved the device last year.
The results are immediate, Klein says, and patients return to work the next day. He says the sweat glands do not grow back.
Here’s a Q and A with the doctor and a video of how the electromagnetic technology works.
Q. How widespread is this problem of too much sweating? Is there a way you can quantify it, in terms of the population?
A. In my experience 1 percent of the population experiences intense psychological anxiety and social impairment associated with embarrassing excessive underarm sweating. Of course the degree of social impairment is subjective, with up to 5 percent of adults often experiencing embarrassment from sweating.
Q. How does someone know if they have what could be considered excessive sweating?
A. By my definition, if a person’s underarm sweating is “frequently” the cause of significant embarrassment, then the sweating is excessive.
Q. If someone just wants to eliminate sweating even if it’s not excessive, can they get this treatment?
A. Yes.
Q. Isn’t it important for the body to sweat? How does removing the sweating process not create a problem?
A. Yes. Eccrine sweat glands, which are distributed over the majority of the body’s skin surface area, are important for regulating body temperature and dissipating heat during physical activity. The smell of eccrine sweat is typically not offensive. Apocrine sweat glands are found in the underarm skin and contribute to the unpleasant odor of underarm sweating. Eliminating excessively active underarm sweat glands is not detrimental to the body’s heat regulation mechanisms.
Q. How uncomfortable is the procedure?
A. With Tumescent Local Anesthesia [a procedure developed by Dr. Klein] there is virtually no discomfort other than 3 to 4 initial gentle pin pricks under each arm as the initial injection of very dilute local anesthesia with a 32-gauge needle, the smallest disposable needle on the market. After these initial injections patients only feel the pressure of fluid as it is being infiltrated under the axillary skin with a longer needle under slow gentle pressure provided by a specially designed peristaltic tumescent infiltration pump.
Q. How long does it take?
A. In our experience the typical treatment session last 1.5 hours. However, sometimes it can be longer. We do not rush. Some patients ask more than the usual amount of questions, and we take our time to thoroughly answer each question. The actual treatment typically requires 10 minutes (each side) to gently infiltrate the tumescent local anesthesia and 20 to 25 minutes (each side) to apply the MiraDry device.
Q. What does the procedure cost?
A. We charge $2,500 for the first treatment and $1,500 for the second treatment (which is recommended for optimal long term results).
