Surgical Management of Primary Upper Limb Hyperhidrosis – A Review

Sweating is a physiological and vital condition to control thermoregulation of the skin (Rajesh et al., 2003). Hyperhidrosis is defined as an excess of sweating beyond the amount needed to cool down elevated body temperature (Kreyden & Burg, 2000). Primary hyperhidrosis as a disease seems trivial to general public because of its falsely perceived rarity (Eisenach et al., 2005). Furthermore, although not life-threatening (Reisfeld et al., 2002), it is evident that it can lead to severe psychologic, social and occupational dysfunction (Shargall et al., 2008). Nowadays primary hyperhidrosis is being recognized increasingly and its treatment options are gaining widespread attention (Eisenach et al., 2005). Although medical therapies have been the main treatment options for many years, surgical interventions have recently been proven to be an important therapeutic alternative. This shift has corresponded with the evolution of minimally invasive surgical techniques (Grondin, 2008), the main topic of this issue.