Hyperhidrosis Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone could share their experience using iontophoresis for feet. I have had very severe palmar/plantar hyperhidrosis since birth, and had ETS for my hands 10 years ago (was successful!). While sweaty feet haven't been as problematic as sweaty hands, they're still annoying! Certain social events are difficult to dress for, since sandals are impossible for me to wear and panty hose/heels are barely tolerable.

Here's what I've tried so far:
1. Certain Dri (not effective)
2. Glycopyrrolate (experimented with 1-3 mg/day, not effective)

I've heard mixed reviews about iontophoresis, and am very skeptical about it since most success stories seem to come from people with mild/moderate HH. So, if you're someone with severe HH who's tried iontophoresis, I would love to hear from you!

I also have a few questions...does anyone recommend a particular device? Does the water level cover the entire foot (I would need to be treated up to my ankles)? Any other methods that you've tried (that work) to treat plantar HH? I am open to literally anything.

Thanks everyone!

If you go the main site (no-ets.com), you will see under the my experiences column my results using three different machines (Drionic, Hidrex, Idromed).

Iontophoresis can work great, but the only problem is that for a large number of people (including myself) it can stop working, and then you restart treatment, change water type, change depth etc.. to get it to work again.

If you cannot afford the higher-end machines, try making the homemade ones via youtube.

Thank you! I will check that out.

If you're still around I wrote about my experience with iontophoresis for my feet here:

http://www.no-ets.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89

I touch upon some of your questions there. I've continued using the device successfully to this day.

-Robert

Thank you! That's really helpful info. I've also heard of using wet paper towels to treat the parts of your feet that go above the water line. One thing I'm wondering about is traveling with this device. I'm going to be doing a lot of international travel in the near future...is it pretty easy to pack/carry around/get through security? Not sure if anyone has any experience with that.

Thanks!

Iontopheresis can make miracles, but it is a very tedious and unpleasant chore. I used to achieve some great results with a combination of two treatments. Each other night I also used a very strong antiperspirant
http://ahc30-forte.com/
The other antiperspirant which was also very effective was
https://www.facebook.com/hydrosalcanada
I tried virtually all other antiperspirants available and they all stopped working after a while.
When traveling I used antiperspirants only. This immensely improved the situation but I was never able to predict the results.

The most important rule is that the hands/feet must be dry before the application of the antiperspirant. Sometimes I had to wake in the middle of the night to follow this rule. Also, it is very useful to do a very thorough scrub of the dead skin on your feet once or twice a month. The antiperspirants/iontopheresis on one hand increase the amount of the dead skin and on the other hand stop working when the layer of the dead skin is too thick.

kz90 wrote:One thing I'm wondering about is traveling with this device. I'm going to be doing a lot of international travel in the near future...is it pretty easy to pack/carry around/get through security?

I have never traveled with the device so I can't comment on that. I believe the Fischer is bulkier than other devices.

Once you are doing iontophoresis regularly the effect doesn't wear off for a few weeks if you stop the treatments. On many occasions I've gone on vacation, stopping the treatments during that time, and resumed using the device upon my return with no recurrence of sweating. In fact this winter I slacked off from treating my feet altogether and didn't start sweating for a couple of months. (Though in this case I have had to go through a load of treatments to get my feet back to being dry again.)

So if your traveling involves fairly short trips and you can otherwise maintain a regular treatment schedule you wouldn't need to take the device with you.

Hey everyone, I just received the RA Fischer MD-2 Unit and have a quick question. I turned on the unit and it showed an error message, saying that the cord was shorted. Has anyone else gotten this message? If so, any suggestions? Thanks!

I can't help you there as I have the original non-digital device. Contact R.A. Fischer?

After 11 treatments, I'm happy to say that the fischer device is starting to work! The middle of my foot is completely dry. Sweating has been reduced on my heels and toes, but they're still pretty clammy. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm wondering if it just takes longer to treat those areas...?

I don't remember that any parts of my feet were later in becoming dry than others. That fact that it has worked on part of your feet so far is very encouraging! It is perhaps possible it might take a little longer on heels and toes because the skin is thicker there. Maybe?