Date of Award

January 2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

Department

Medicine

First Advisor

Murad Alam

Subject Area(s)

Medicine, Surgery

Abstract

COMPARING THE EFFICACY BETWEEN SUCTION-CURETTAGE AND BOTOX INJECTIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF AXILLARY HYPERHIDROSIS.

Omer Ibrahim and Murad Alam. Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. (Sponsored by Robert Tigelaar, Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT).

Botox injections and suction-curettage have been separately shown to be effective in treating axillary hyperhidrosis but they have never been compared head-to-head against one another. We sought to compare the efficacy of suction-curettage versus Botox injections in the treatment of axillary hyperhidrosis.

Twenty patients with axillary hyperhidrosis were recruited and each subject received Botox injections in one axilla and suction-curettage in the other axilla. The primary outcome measure was reduction of sweat rate as measured by gravimetry, and the secondary outcome measure was the improvement of subjective quality of life as measured by a questionnaire.

In the short-term, Botox was superior to suction-curettage in treating axillary hyperhidrosis in all patients. In the long-term, Botox was more effective in patients with milder disease (sweat rate less than 25 mg/min), whereas in patients with moderate-to-severe disease (sweat rate greater than 25 mg/min) suction-curettage was just as effective as Botox injections

Botox injections are more effective than suction-curettage in treating patients with mild axillary hyperhidrosis while suction-curettage is similar in efficacy and may even be longer lasting than Botox injections in treating patients with severe disease (sweat rate greater than 25 mg/min).

Comments

This thesis is restricted to Yale network users only. This thesis is permanently embargoed from public release.

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