Botox for Hyperhidrosis (Sweating)
An ultimate vanity? Or a life-saving medical breakthrough?
Allergan's Botox Wins Approval for Fourth Use
Botox, that toxin-turned-cosmetic, has now been approved for yet another use: as an antiperspirant. It seems that Allergan, the Pharmaceutical Giant who developed this drug, has managed to persuade the FDA that there are people out there whose very lives are threatened by their "excessive sweating," and that the risks of injecting a toxin to shut down a normal, healthy bodily function are outweighed by the "benefits" of short-circuiting one of our body's main organs of detoxification.
Don't get me wrong - I am sure there must be real people out there somewhere whose lives are negatively affected because they sweat too much. Hyperhidrosis is a real, if uncommon medical condition and I'm sure that for those folk who walk around bathed in and dripping with sweat even in their nice, climate-controlled offices or shops or homes this will be welcome, even life-changing news. I'm just a little concerned that with just a bit more effort on the part of Big Advertising, this will become yet another "vanity" procedure - like paralyzing your face to smooth out the wrinkles that are really just the proud badges of maturity. With only a small effort on the part of Big Pharmaceuticals, and Big Advertising, and Big Medicine, this $1000 to $1200 procedure could be a semi-annual alternative to anti-perspirants. $2400 a year will buy a lot of anti-perspirant sprays! (That is, for those who are still insisting on subjecting themselves to aluminum compounds in anti-perspirants that have been implicated in causing or contributing to Alzheimer's disease...)
Then what? We'll be dealing with the effects of having stopped some of the natural, protective processes of our bodies - reduced our ability to cool our bodies naturally, reduced the ability of our skin - the body's largest organ of detoxification - to do it's work and rid us of accumulated toxins, even reduced the natural lubricating effect of the sweat produced during activity. If you wonder why I should be on such a rant about this, or question why I would be pointing an accusing finger at Big Pharmaceuticals, and Big Advertising, and Big Medicine, consider this; the last line of the article that prompted this reads as follows: "Last year Allergan's Botox sales grew by 28 percent to about $564 million, according to the company." (emphasis is mine) A pretty nice piece of change, built on finding new uses for Botulism Toxin... You won't find me signing up to have my sweat shut off - in fact, I'm getting ready to go out for a run, and work up a really good sweat this morning! Care to join me?
Cheers,
Nurse Mark
7:03:16 AM 
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