Puberty can be a rocky time for any teenager. So, when Reese Storr started excessively sweating at age 12, he assumed puberty was hitting him particularly hard. But the day he soaked through his soccer uniform on chilly afternoon, Reese knew this was more than just hormones.
“It got to the point where no matter what shirt I wore, I’d have pit stains immediately; I changed my shirt about four times a day,” he remembers. “No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to control it. I was always sweating.”
Like many teens, Reese did everything he could to hide it. He wore black shirts and bulky sweatshirts year-round to cover the stains. For a while, he even kept it from his parents.
“It put me into a shell,” he says. “I didn’t want people to see it. I didn’t want to be that kid.”
Eventually, Reese opened up to his parents, and together they started searching for answers. He went from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was going on and how to get relief. About six years after he started sweating, a doctor finally diagnosed Reese with hyperhidrosis.
What is hyperhidrosis?
Hyperhidrosis is excessive, uncontrollable sweating, most often from the hands, armpits, feet or face. It typically starts in someone’s teens or early 20s.
Unlike normal sweating, which regulates your body temperature during warm weather, activity or stress, hyperhidrosis can strike anytime — even during rest or cold weather.
“Anyone is going to sweat if they run or play sports, but if you’re sitting in a meeting and your hands are dripping sweat on the table, that is something different,” thoracic surgeon Christopher Seder, MD, explains.
While hyperhidrosis is not harmful to your physical health, it can seriously affect your emotional well-being and quality of life. “There is a lot of social anxiety around hyperhidrosis,” Seder says.
Years of trial and error
When Reese finally got his diagnosis, his doctor recommended oral medications and prescription strength deodorants. But nothing worked.
A dermatologist tried Botox injections, which helped temporarily but always wore off.
“The sweating from his armpits was so severe that his sweat stains would meet together on the back of his shirt,” Seder says. “People like Reese often end up trying treatment after treatment getting more and more frustrated.”
Finally, after 11 years of treatments that didn’t work, Reese’s dermatologist referred him to Rush to explore a surgical option with high success rates for curing hyperhidrosis.
An answer, finally
Reese had heard about a surgical treatment for hyperhidrosis, but he was somewhat skeptical. He was exhausted from years of disappointment, navigating from doctor to doctor, explaining his symptoms and having to “prove” the toll this was taking on him.
But meeting Seder was a game changer. In fact, he felt seen and heard for the first time since getting his hyperhidrosis diagnosis
“Dr. Seder simply said, ‘I’ve seen this before.’ He didn’t ask me for proof or anything like that,” Reese remembers. “It just felt really good to talk to someone who had seen this before; I finally felt understood.”
Seder told Reese he was a good candidate for a minimally invasive surgery called a robotic bilateral thoracic sympathectomy, which stops excessive sweating from the armpits and hands. Seder has done hundreds of these procedures for patients just like Reese, and he was confident it could help.
The surgery is an option for people who:
- Have hyperhidrosis affecting their hands and/or armpits*
- Have tried other nonsurgical therapies with little to no success
- Are in good health overall
*The surgery is not a good option for people who have hyperhidrosis affecting their face, feet or other part of the body.
What to expect with surgery
During a robotic bilateral thoracic sympathectomy, a thoracic surgeon makes three tiny poke holes in the chest and divides a small piece of a nerve called the sympathetic chain, which controls sweating in the hands and armpits.
“By dividing and taking out this small piece of nerve, patients are almost instantly cured from their hyperhidrosis,” Seder says. “It’s effective in more than 95% of patients.”
Naturally, Reese was a bit nervous about having his first surgery. But his care team guided him through each step. “Dr. Seder answered my countless questions, and he was so accessible,” Reese says. “He made me feel really confident and ready for the surgery.”
Reese learned he would be under general anesthesia for the surgery, and he would experience some pain at the incision sites and shortness of breath for a few weeks after surgery. Seder also told him that a common side effect of a thoracic sympathectomy is increased sweating in other parts of the body, such as the legs or trunk. But this typically fades over time.
With his questions answered, a renewed hope and confidence in his care team, Reese was ready for surgery. “Dr. Seder let me know everything and every possibility in advance,” he says. “I was so grateful for that and for everything he did."
Immediate relief
On the day of his procedure, Reese was nervous but hopeful. “As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I got excited thinking that things were going to finally change for me,” he says.
His care team quickly put him at ease. “I felt like they were talking to me and taking care of me as a friend, not just another patient. Everyone was so supportive,” Reese says.
The surgery took just under an hour. After spending a couple hours in recovery, Reese felt good and headed home the same day. And he noticed a difference right away.
“The sweating stopped instantly, it was awesome,” he says. “The first thing I did was buy a gray shirt!”
This quick and dramatic change is common, according to Seder. “Often, when patients go to sleep for the surgery their hands are sweating, and they wake up with completely dry hands,” he says. “They come into the office for their follow-up a week later saying, ‘I cannot believe I didn’t do this sooner!’”
A new chapter
Reese’s recovery went exactly as Seder had described. After a few weeks, he was back to living a full life in Chicago, working as a design engineer and enjoying normal activities with no pain. While he experienced some sweating on his legs, he expects that will improve over time.
Most importantly, after 11 long years, Reese finally has lasting relief. “Ever since the day of the surgery, I have not sweat at all from my armpits or my hands,” he says. “I had the surgery in the summer, and I’d never really been able to wear short sleeves because of my pit stains. It’s been awesome, and my arms can finally see the sun!”
