Hi All, I am posting this on behalf of my son who is in his mid 20's and who had intense HH of the buttocks and groin. He was very depressed and had a lot of anxiety around his HH. He regularly sweated through his pants and would leave sweat marks on things he sat on. I cannot over emphasize how much his mental health was affected by HH. He saw many doctors and it really seemed that HH isn't taken seriously as both a health and mental health issue. It was frustrating to me as his mom that there isn't more research on this condition that truly and deeply affects so many people. He tried all of the usual treatments. He wore Ejis Sweat Defense boxer briefs. He ate a clean diet and no caffeine. His mental health was really spiraling. MiraDry seemed to be a treatment that could help him but it was only licensed for the underarms in the U.S. I started a search over months and finally found two doctors: one in the UK and one in Germany who treated the buttocks and groin. We went with Dr. Amit from the UK as our FaceTime consult went really well with him, he had successfully treated others with my son's condition, and London was closer to California (where we are from) than Germany. In the U.S., MiraDry is not covered by health insurance as it is considered a cosmetic treatment so I fully understood that we would be fully financially responsible for the cost. That said, it has been worth all of the $$ spent to see my son released from the emotional and physical hell of HH. He would tell you that he doesn't have HH anymore. He isn't self conscious anymore and he is becoming more and more social. The transformation in him has been amazing.
About MiraDry for the buttocks, groin, lining of the buttocks and a small part of the lower back: My son ended up having three treatments and his sweating is down about 90-95% in those areas. There is no compensatory sweating with MiraDry. The technology around MiraDry is that is a microwave technology that targets and kills the sweat glands. Because of the sensitivity of the areas being treated my son opted for anesthesia for each of his treatments as this was suggested by Dr. Amit. Good call. After treatment #2 (and the day before we were to leave London) my son had a small area of his back treated by Dr. Amit with just local injections and he said there were a lot of injections and the treatment was painful. Opt for sedation or full anesthesia. The skin is very sore, swollen and has marks on it right after treatment. There is no sweating right after the procedure. Straight back to the hotel. I brought two boxes of zip lock bags and made ice packs (double bagged). For all three treatments he stayed in the hotel room for four days resting, recovering and watching movies or sleeping. He was given 6 pain pills each time and then he took Advil. I brought food to him. Don't think you can do this by yourself, have someone with you for the first 24 hours at least. Each treatment we stayed for one week in London then flew back home. The swelling goes down quite a lot during the first week, them marks fade over time. Sweating RETURNS around day 10. This is NORMAL and to be expected. This is the process of the dying sweat glands releasing sweat. This process takes up to 3 months. By day 100 the final result from MiraDry is known. After the first treatment my son stopped wearing his Ejis sweat defense boxer briefs. After the second treatment he was good. I was actually surprised that he wanted to go back for a third treatment but his trauma from sweating was such that even a small amount of sweat bothered him so we went back.
Dr. Amit is involved with MiraDry and an FDA study was recently completed as to its effectiveness on off label body parts with the expectation that MiraDry's licensing would expand to include other parts of the body but it was not to be for reasons that had nothing to do with its effectiveness. Another study has been ordered and that will take more time. So, MiraDry is years off from licensing in the U.S. It would still not be covered by insurance.
From what I understand Dr. Amit also treats the chest, back, hands and feet with MiraDry. There are more limitations with the hands and feet that the chest and back. I also would like to add that not all doctors are the same, even with the same degree or specialty. Every procedure, every treatment, how you are spoken to and listened to, a doctor's experience, compassion and empathy are all very important. Choose wisely.
www.cosmebeaute.co.uk