The Prevalence of Hyperhidrosis Diagnoses & Genetic Factors

David Pariser, MD is an active dermatologist and a founding board member of the International Hyperhidrosis Society (IHHS). He is a professor in the Department of Dermatology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, where he is also the senior physician with Pariser Dermatology Specialists, Ltd. 

In this video, Dr David Pariser discusses how prevalent hyperhidrosis diagnoses are and that there can be a genetic component involved.

Visit SweatHelp.org for Hyperhidrosis Awareness Month to find more research and education about the subject.

This video is made in collaboration with the International Hyperhidrosis Society.

TRANSCRIPT-

Dr David Pariser: About 4.8%, close to 5% of the US population has hyperhidrosis, according to the latest information that we have. That's about as much as the number of people who have a skin disease called psoriasis, which many more people are familiar with and consider it to be a more serious problem.

However, the quality of life in patients with psoriasis is just about the same, if not a little bit better, than the people who have hyperhidrosis, even bad psoriasis. It's a common problem that we deal with on a daily basis.

There seems to be a genetic component to hyperhidrosis, although it's not a situation where it's passed down directly from parents to children. About 60%, maybe a little more, of people who have hyperhidrosis have a family member who has it.

I had a patient one time, a teenage girl, who was sitting on the exam table in my office. Her mother was sitting on a chair in the exam room. I asked the teenager whether anybody else in the family had excessive sweating. She said, "No, no one else does." Then the mother said, "Honey, I've never told you, but I've had a sweating problem all my life."

The teenager said to the mom, "Mom, how come you never told me? I never understood." The mother sheepishly said, "Grandma has it too." It's not something that people sit around the family dinner table talking about because there is a social stigma to hyperhidrosis.

People who have it are viewed sometimes by others as being unclean or obese or out of shape or something or dirty. We're coming up on Thanksgiving, and I bet you now, no families talk about that around the Thanksgiving dinner table.