Hand sweating or sweaty palms are medically referred to as Palmar Hyperhidrosis. It is a condition wherein the hands perspire profusely. And quite notably, it is also in the hands where the symptoms of hyperhidrosis are most apparent.
While most of the instances of hand sweating are minor, it can still affect the overall lifestyle of a person suffering from it. Hand sweating usually starts during the childhood stage and continues until puberty and early adulthood stages. For some patients, it goes away naturally. However, others would have to go through a series of treatment therapies just to cure the disease.
Hand sweating is usually an inherited disease. And it differs in severity at that. The milder cases of sweaty palms may not cause any problems as far as the functionality of the hands is concerned. It does not pose to be a problem with one's social relations either.
However, there are instances wherein the person literally drips off sweat from their palms, enough to be distracted and embarrassed by the situation. This is stage two of the hand sweating problem. In some people, hand sweating is so severe that the more conservative methods of treating the disease prove to be ineffective. This is the worse case of hand sweating that could happen to you.
Sweaty palms can be caused by emotional and mental stimuli as well. People who get nervous and agitated usually acquire sweaty palms up until the ordeal is over. Those who are in the state of fear and anticipation may get their hands perspiring uncontrollably too.
The symptoms of sweaty hands are all too apparent. First, there would be beads of perspiration forming in the palm of your hands. You can wipe it off as much as you like but newer sets of sweat beads would form and the process would just repeat itself. The hands may get very pinkish or discolored in the process too. This is the direct result of the sodium in the sweat as well as the other minerals and solutes present in it.
There are different methods to cure hand sweating. The choice ranges from topical treatments to more obtrusive methods like acupuncture, injections, and surgery.
Topical treatments include powders, lotions, and creams that intend to stop sweat from breaking out on the skin. While some of these types of medication are successful, its length of effectiveness can be very short. They are considered temporary cures for hand sweating because they only work for as long as three hours after being applied on the skin.
Acupuncture is an old Chinese way of treating diseases. But it is still being used today and is actually an alternative form of treatment for people who don't want to undergo the obtrusive more methods of curing diseases, and in this case their sweaty palms. There are certain acupuncture points that can be pierced or applied pressure on so that the body's sweating mechanism can be regulated.
The most obtrusive mode of treatment for people suffering from hand sweating is surgery. The procedure is called thoracic sympathectomy. This procedure has been developed and used for over 50 years now. It also has improved greatly over time. This is the reason why a lot of people started using it as a permanent solution to their hand sweating problem.