FDA okays treating underarm sweating with injection of toxins

But that's characteristic of modern medicine: treat the symptoms, ignore the cause.

• WASHINGTON - It's now official: Wrinkle-smoothing Botox can be injected in the armpits to curb excessive sweating.
• On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) approved the long-expected new use of Botox, the latest in a range of conditions to be treated by this weakened form of the food-poisoning toxin that causes botulism.
• People with a condition called "primary axillary hyperhidrosis" produce four or five times the amount of underarm sweat as is normal.
• There are various treatments, including powerful antiperspirants, drugs to prevent sweat gland stimulation, even surgery on those glands.
• Botox apparently temporarily paralyzes a nerve that stimulates sweat glands.
• In one study, 91 percent of patients who received Botox underarm injections saw their sweating cut in half in a month, compared with 36 percent of patients given salt-water injections.
• Patients can get additional injections every few months.
• FDA (news - web sites) cited one study that found the average duration of response was just under six months.
• Before receiving Botox, patients should be checked for other causes of the sweating problem, such as an overactive thyroid, to avoid Botox treatment masking a potentially serious disease, FDA cautioned.
• Side effects include injection site pain and bleeding, sweating in other parts of the body, flu-like symptoms, headache, fever, itching and anxiety, FDA said.
• Dermatologists have long offered Botox to hyperhidrosis sufferers, but FDA approval means maker Allergan Inc. now can advertise the use.
• Allergan says price varies geographically but the average cost is $750 for both arms.