1.0 Introduction
Botox also termed as Botulinum Toxin A or onabotulinumtoxinA is an injection given for the treatment of hyperhidrosis (sweat) in the armpits. Botox for excessive sweating is a topical treatment which does not cure the sweating problem instead provides relaxation from the problem temporarily.
The drug is widely used for the cosmetic purpose. The sweating in underarms for which the drug has been approved is also termed as Axillary Hyperhidrosis. You can try https://www.cosmedocs.com/treatments/botox-excessive-sweating.php as it got good review about it. It should be helpful.
1.1 Primary Axillary Hyperhidrosis
Botox is indicated for treating the disease as it is not adequately managed by other topical products. The drug is only suitable for adult patients as its safety and efficacy is not seen in pediatric patients.
2. Mechanism of action
Botox acts by binding to the acceptor site present on the terminals of sympathetic or motor nerves and block the transmission of neuromuscular receptors and prevents acetylcholine release. The acetyl choline is inhibited when the neurotoxin breaks SNAP-25, it is a protein which is essential for docking and successful acetylcholine release through the vesicles present at the nerve endings. On injecting Botox for sweating there is partial denervation in sweat glands which may result in lessening of sweat in under arms. There may be some atrophy of muscles, axonal sprouting and development of extra-junction acetylcholine receptors.
2.1 Botox treatment
- When activation of sweat glands is required
- A chemical message is send to nervous system through sympathetic nervous system, but botox has stopped all the signals
- The sweat glands in body do not activate because of blocked nerve endings by Botox
- There is reduction in sweating
- As the treatment is effective only for 6-12 weeks, new nerve endings start to grow
- The path of sending and receiving grows, all the sweat glands get activated
- Problem of excessive sweating starts again
3. Dosage of Botox for Excessive Sweating
The doses for Botox are indication specific for the treatment of adult patients which should not exceed beyond 360 units at 3 months interval. The vial of Botox generally contains 50 Units, 100 Units and 200 Units. The dose recommended for sweating is around 50 units for each axilla. The injections for sweating should only be administered when the previous injection effect is diminished.
4. Adverse events reported
Most common adverse events reported till now for Botox include: infection, pharyngitis, fever, headache, and anxiety, and pruritus, pain in neck or back. The range of adverse events in adult patients varies from 3-10% as was seen in clinical studies of drug.
5. Risks of using Botox
Though the drug is effective for the problem of excessive sweating but there are some of the risks and side effects that follow:
5.1 Swallowing, Speaking and Breathing Problem
The injections of Botox should be avoided if the person has problem in swallowing, inhaling and speaking as this can cause severe problems and may also lead to loss of life.
5.2 Weakening of Muscles
The drug is not recommended for the people with weakened muscles or have other diseases related to nerve. A person could feel weakness and drowsiness after the treatment.
5.3 Other reactions
There could also be other allergic reactions like rashes, itching, asthma symptoms etc. The Botox could cause certain side effects after interaction with other medicines, herbal products and vitamins.
5.4 Side effects of Botox include
The treatment may cause problems like weakness, flu, tiredness, blurred vision. There may be some of the temporary symptoms which are not experienced by everyone and they generally last for only some days. However, No further side effects have been noted.
5.5 Vision related problems
There is a lot of potential that using BOTOX may have problems which are related to the vision, now it is something that the normal people do not want to take risk of, you should be absolutely aware that the vision problem can be anything from Double vision, blurriness in the eyes, dry eyes and drooping and swelling of the eyes and in some cases it may be possible that the person feels dizziness while taking BOTOX treatment for excessive seating.
6. Limitation of treatment
Apart from all the positive effects Botox also has certain limitation:
- The Botox safety is not established in other parts of body.
- There may be problem of weakness in muscles of hand and blepharoptosis may occur in the patients.
- To avoid the symptoms related to excessive sweating there should be proper diagnosis and treatment for the disease should be done
- The safety along with efficacy is not seen in patients below the age of 18.
- Patients have also felt problems in swallowing, breathing and speaking, it is because the muscles associated to that part of the body weakens, its severity can also be understood the extent of people losing their life, if there is pre-existing problem that you have then I would recommend you to have a clear understanding of it and should consult a good physician before going for the treatment process of BOTOX excessive sweating and tell everything about your health condition and discuss clearly each aspects of the situation.
- It can work wonders if you are totally healthy for excessive sweating.
