← Hyperhidrosis Surgery

Hyperhidrosis · Self-Assessment

Is Surgery Likely to Be the
Right Route for Your Sweating?

A short, honest self-check to help you understand where your sweating sits and to prepare for a consultation. It is not a diagnosis — and for many people the answer it points to is not surgery. Nothing you enter is saved or sent; it stays on your device.

Last reviewed: July 2026 · Dr Lawrence Okiror FRCS(CTh) FRCSEd(CTh) · GMC 6150382

This is educational and cannot examine you. There is no single objective test that decides whether surgery is right; that judgement is made in person. It does not replace advice from your GP or a specialist. If you have drenching night sweats, unexplained weight loss, fevers or swollen glands, please see your GP promptly.

1. Where do you sweat excessively?

Select every area that applies.

2. A few safety questions

These help spot sweating that needs a medical check before anything else. A “yes” here is important.

Is the sweating clearly on one side only, or noticeably uneven between the two sides?

Do you have drenching night sweats — waking with soaked bedding or nightclothes?

Any recent unexplained weight loss, fevers, or new lumps / swollen glands?

Did the sweating begin after starting a new medication or a new medical condition?

3. The pattern of your sweating

Sweating that is not caused by another condition tends to follow a recognisable pattern.

How long has it been a problem?

Does it stop completely while you are asleep?

Does it happen at least once a week?

Did it start before you were 25?

Does anyone else in your family have the same problem?

4. How much does it affect your day?

Choose the one statement that fits best. This is a validated single question doctors use (the HDSS).

5. What have you already tried?

Surgery is considered only after the simpler measures. Select everything you have genuinely tried.

Please answer the highlighted questions so the summary is accurate.

Your consultation-prep summary

Bringing this to a consultation. A brief message with the summary above is all that is needed. Dr Lawrence Okiror assesses excessive sweating at London Bridge Hospital and The Lister Hospital Chelsea. Self-referrals welcome; new consultations from £250.

Jo Mitchelson, PA

020 7952 2882  ·  pa@lungsurgeon.co.uk

This summary is educational and is not a diagnosis or a treatment recommendation, and nothing you enter is stored or sent — it stays on your device. The pattern questions follow the international consensus criteria for primary focal hyperhidrosis (Hornberger et al., J Am Acad Dermatol 2004). The impact question is the Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS), validated for underarm sweating and used more widely as a guide. There is no single objective test that determines whether surgery is right; that is decided at an in-person assessment. Where surgery is appropriate, its central trade — near-certain, permanent relief of hand and facial sweating weighed against some compensatory sweating elsewhere — is discussed in full before any decision. Sympathectomy is offered for the hands, underarms or face, not for the feet.

Not sure? An honest consultation
is the next step, not surgery.

Self-referrals welcome. Private appointments at London Bridge Hospital or The Lister Hospital Chelsea within 2–3 working days. Not every patient who attends leaves with a surgical recommendation — that is the point.

Book a Consultation → Full ETS Surgery Details

Jo Mitchelson, PA  · 020 7952 2882 · pa@lungsurgeon.co.uk

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