Money Pits: Can a Game-Changing New Treatment to Stop Perspiration End Sweat Forever?
We’re all obsessed with sweat—particularly how much of it we’re producing and whether anyone can tell. There are places where perspiration is accepted—SoulCycle, saunas—but soggy underarms at a cocktail party or stains in a board meeting? Quelle horreur! We live in an “I don’t sweat, I glisten” world, where sweatlessness is a signifier of status. You never see celebrities wipe their brows at the Oscars, do you? As long as lack of sweat isn’t a royal sex scandal defense, everyone agrees: the less sweat the better.
For years the secret to curbing sweat among the upper echelon was a regular hit of Botox under the arms, which is effective but temporary. Now, thanks to a treatment called MiraDry, an FDA-cleared noninvasive technique that permanently eliminates sweat glands under the arms, pit problems could become a thing of the past.
MiraDry works via “microwaves that heat up the liquid inside sweat glands until they’re destroyed by thermal energy,” says Los Angeles plastic surgeon Sheila Nazarian, who performs around four of the procedures a week. MiraDry has been shown to reduce sweating and odor by about 82 percent after two treatments, and since the heat also blitzes follicles, most patients also see hair reduction of up to 72 percent.
Aren’t we supposed to sweat? Of course, but the glands under our arms make up only 2 percent of our active glands, Nazarian says. Our bodies compensate for the loss, but it’s not as if you’ll start pouring sweat from your temples; your body can still cool itself effectively without perspiring more in other areas
The treatments (they cost about $2,000) take roughly 45 minutes per pit and begin with injections of lidocaine. While the process itself is not painful, according to plastic surgeon Gerald Ginsberg, medical director of Tribeca MedSpa in New York City, recovery can be uncomfortable. In addition to swelling, bumps and nodules are common, although they typically disappear in three to six weeks. “It felt as if I had a sunburn,” says Bill Tobin, who received MiraDry from Ginsberg. “I haven’t worn deodorant since the day I got it, and I have no odor, no sweating,” he says.
Most of the people coming to Nazarian for MiraDry treatments are “very successful people in the limelight who don’t want to have pit stains.” Some posttreatment discomfort is a small price to pay for a future free of sweat-related anxiety, she says. Apart from the TED Talk set, she has also noticed the wellness-obsessed seeking the procedure because “they don’t want to put chemicals in their body,” such as the contents of traditional antiperspirants.
Still, patients have to weigh the possible side effects against the benefits. “I don’t know that it’s always a slam dunk,” says New York dermatologist Morgan Rabach, who does not offer MiraDry. “Sometimes the swelling can last, and sometimes it can work better on one side than the other.” Still, if you keep spare shirts in your desk drawer or have sweated through a new silk dress on the way to a summer soirée, it could hang your deodorant out to dry for good.
This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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