Why sweating in hands and feet?

Sweating is how your body cools itself when it gets too hot (when you’re exercising, sick or really nervous). Nerves tell your sweat glands to start working. In hyperhidrosis, certain sweat glands work overtime for no apparent reason, producing sweat that you don’t need.

Focal hyperhidrosis commonly results from:

Generalized or secondary hyperhidrosis can result from:

In secondary hyperhidrosis, a medical condition or medication causes you to sweat more than usual. Medical experts haven’t uncovered what causes the body to produce extra sweat in focal hyperhidrosis.

Focal hyperhidrosis runs in families, which suggests a genetic link. While it’s common for multiple members of one family to have hyperhidrosis, you may not know it. That’s because lots of people with hyperhidrosis don’t feel comfortable talking about their symptoms.

Hyperhidrosis symptoms can range widely in their severity and impact on your life. Minor symptoms may ebb and flow over a long time. Or excessive sweating may be an everyday challenge, a constant source of frustration and insecurity.

Hyperhidrosis affects people differently. Sweat may:

Excessive sweating may also lead to:

Your symptoms may offer clues to the type of hyperhidrosis you have. Excessive sweating due to focal hyperhidrosis usually affects both sides of the body (both hands or feet). Focal hyperhidrosis doesn’t cause night sweats and doesn’t go away without treatment. People with generalized hyperhidrosis may sweat while sleeping.

Generalized hyperhidrosis makes you sweat all over. Focal hyperhidrosis mostly affects the:

The hands and feet have more sweat gland density than any other part of the body. So, if you find that these areas sweat more (but not excessively) than other parts of your body, it could be due to simple biology. Sweat can be triggered by plenty of things, like stress, anxiety, heat, or exercise.

In most cases, hyperhidrosis is a benign problem with no clear cause.

Sometimes it can be a sign of other medical problems such as thyroid problems, low blood sugar or nervous system disorders. These conditions should be ruled out before treating hyperhidrosis. Please talk to your child’s doctor for a complete evaluation.

In addition, contact your doctor immediately if your child has excessive sweating:

Babies, children and teens with hyperhidrosis have excessive sweating regardless of the environmental temperature and emotional factors. They may have sweating in one area, such as the hands, or in a combination of areas, such as hands, feet, under the arms and the small of the back.

Areas that produce excessive sweat usually appear pink or white, but, in severe cases, may appear cracked, scaly and soft (especially on the feet). Other symptoms may include a bad odor caused by bacteria and yeast in the wet skin.

Excessive sweating is often first noticed when it interferes with school and social activities. Excessive sweating in the hands can severely affect a child’s ability to hold a pen or pencil and to keep their school papers dry. They may have trouble using touchscreens and are reluctant to hold hands. Hyperhidrosis can cause social embarrassment and lead to psychological problems.

The symptoms of palmar hyperhidrosis may resemble other medical conditions. Always talk with your health care provider for a diagnosis.

After ruling out other medical causes, hyperhidrosis is diagnosed with a physical exam and a detailed evaluation of the child’s signs and symptoms. The diagnosis is usually made by a pediatrician or dermatologist.

Other medical causes for excessive sweating may include:

Treatment for mild hyperhidrosis or palmar hyperhidrosis involves topical and oral treatments such as prescription-strength antiperspirants, methenamine solution applications to the area and oral anticholinergic medicines.

For moderate and severe cases, surgical treatment may be recommended as a last resort for treating hyperhidrosis. CHOC pediatric general and thoracic surgeons specialize in performing a minimally invasive procedure called endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy, or ETS surgery. This procedure interrupts the sympathetic nerve pathways that lead to the sweat glands and can eliminate excess sweating from the hands.

Your doctor or insurance company may recommend trying non-surgical treatments before surgery.

Of course, sweat can be a good thing. The body uses sweat to cool itself and keep our body temperature in a healthy range—somewhere between 97 and 99 degrees, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It’s also possible that sweating could help clear the body of toxins (though some experts disagree with this claim),1 keep bacteria in balance,2 and keep the skin hydrated,3 but more research is needed on all accounts. In other words, we need sweat to keep us healthy, but excessive sweating—especially the kind that feels out of control or causes skin issues—might actually be a medical condition.

The name hyperhidrosis may be new to you, but if you have it, you know something’s up. People who suffer from hyperhidrosis sweat a lot. “In some people, it may be as high as four to five times the normal level of sweat,” Marlyanne Pol-Rodriguez, MD, a dermatologist and hyperhidrosis expert at Stanford Health Care, tells SELF, adding that millions of people have this condition. In fact, it’s estimated that 3% of the U.S. population sweats excessively, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

Ahead we’ll explore what actually constitutes a sweaty hand problem, and tips on how to keep your palms and feet feeling fresh and dry.

The hands and feet have more sweat gland density than any other part of the body. So, if you find that these areas sweat more (but not excessively) than other parts of your body, it could be due to simple biology. Sweat can be triggered by plenty of things, like stress, anxiety, heat, or exercise. Imagine you have to give a presentation at work, and you notice your hands are sweating—maybe the paper you’re holding gets damp. That’s within the realm of normal.

There’s not a super firm line about when sweaty hands go from an annoyance to a condition. Two of the biggest factors are how much you sweat, and how much it affects your life. “The simplest definition of hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating that is beyond what would be expected from whatever the trigger of the sweating is,” Dr. Pol-Rodriguez explains. Basically, for someone with hyperhidrosis, the same triggers—stress, heat, exercise—cause a whole lot more sweat.

Imagine not being able to hold on to a steering wheel while driving, or slipping across a tile floor when barefoot. The sweating with hyperhidrosis is severe enough that it “impairs your normal activities,” S. Max Vale, MD, a dermatologist at UW Medicine, tells SELF. That could mean that sweat is visible even when you’re not exerting yourself—something a doctor will be checking for. The excess moisture can also cause the skin to feel extra soft or peeled. Frequent issues with skin infections like athlete’s foot can even become a problem.

• An aluminum chloride solution (brand name: Drysol) can be applied to the skin on the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet.
• Another treatment is tap-water iontophoresis.
• People with severe sweating might be treated with injections of botulinum toxin type A (brand name: Botox).