Hyperhidrosis treatment effectively removes armpit hair

Microwave-based technology designed to eliminate axillary hyperhidrosis - excessively sweaty armpits - turns out to be an effective treatment to remove unwanted armpit hair, according to a poster abstract released at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

READ: More coverage of the ASDS 2014 Annual Meeting

“All colors of hair are reduced, but this is the first successful permanent treatment for reduction of light-colored hair,” says abstract presenter Jeremy Brauer, M.D., physician with the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York, clinical assistant professor with the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at New York University School of Medicine and associate attending with the Division of Dermatology at Lenox Hill Hospital.

According to the abstract, 42 patients - 93 percent female, average age 33, 69 percent darker hair color - completed at least one session with the microwave treatment known as miraDry. Hair was reduced by two thirds on average, with 88 percent of patients losing at least 30 percent.

Brauer, who has a proposed consulting arrangement with Miramar Labs, the maker of miraDry, says the treatment works by heating water at the depth of both sweat glands and hair bulbs. “All observed side effects are fortunately transient - subcutaneous nodules and cords; swelling, bruising, soreness,” he says. “There is odor reduction and sweat reduction if goal of treatment is hair reduction.”

Per the manufacturer, the average cost for two treatments is $3,000, he says.