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Botox for excessive sweating
Botulinum toxin injected into the skin of the area that sweats excessively interrupts the nerve's signal to the sweat glands. Sweating is reduced after a few days and stays reduced for months. The armpits, palms and feet are most often treated.
Excessive sweating
I sweat excessively — armpits, palms, feet or face — regardless of the temperature and deodorant. Sweating regulates body temperature, but in some people the sweat glands receive a signal to work even when the body is not hot. This condition (hyperhidrosis) is often inherited, starts in youth and does not depend on hygiene or deodorant. Sweating that appears suddenly, at night or together with other symptoms needs the cause to be examined, not just the sweat.
When should you see a doctor?
Sweating of the armpits, palms or feet that has lasted for years, appears even when it is not hot and does not depend on exertion is most often increased sweating without another illness; botox helps with that. If sweating appeared suddenly, affects the whole body, wakes you at night or comes with weight loss, palpitations or fever, you go to your family doctor first: the cause may be in the thyroid, blood sugar, hormones or a medicine you take, and botox does not solve that.
Before botox it is worth trying stronger antiperspirants with aluminium chloride, applied in the evening to dry skin. For some people that is enough; when it is not, botox is the next step.
How is it done?
The area is marked with a grid of points and a small dose is injected into each. For palms and feet a numbing cream or cooling is used, because injections are felt more there. It is repeated when the sweating returns.
When is the procedure not suitable?
Before treatment, sweating that has a cause is ruled out — thyroid disease, diabetes, medicines, menopause — because then the cause is treated. Botox is not used in disorders of nerve-to-muscle transmission (myasthenia), in pregnancy and breastfeeding, with inflammation of the skin at the treatment site, with a known allergy to the ingredients of the preparation or if you have taken aminoglycoside antibiotics in the last three days.
General reasons for postponing a procedure (pregnancy, breastfeeding, inflammation, a clotting disorder, smoking): When is a procedure postponed?
Anaesthesia
Before a procedure under general or regional anaesthesia, you are seen by the anaesthetist, who works full time at the clinic; the same doctor is also present during the procedure. The anaesthetic assessment and the anaesthesia for larger operations are included in the price of the procedure. What happens before, during and after anaesthesia is described on the Anaesthesia page.
Risks
Expected — tiny bruises where the injections went in.
Occasional — temporary weakness of the muscles of the palm when the palms are treated, sweating returning sooner than expected.
Expected, and rare but serious → Risks and complications: what is the course of healing, and what is a complication?
Specialist and team
Specialty: plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.
Head nurse Martina Šereg arranges appointments and is your contact after the procedure.
What happens at the examination?
Before the treatment there is an examination: the doctor examines the area, asks about illnesses, medicines and allergies, and talks with you about what you expect. How many treatments make sense in your case is agreed at the examination.
What if the result is not as agreed?
The result of a procedure is assessed at a follow-up visit, once the swelling has gone down and the scar has matured, not in the first weeks. If it differs from what was agreed at the examination, the same surgeon carries out the correction.
→ Poliklinika Barbel's correction policy
In the same visit
- Botox — wrinkles, sweating, teeth grinding — the same medicine, a different dose and depth — often done together with botox in other areas, in the same visit.
Frequently asked questions
Will I then sweat somewhere else? Total sweating of the body stays the same; the treated area does not sweat.
How does it work? A sweat gland receives the same type of nerve signal as a muscle; botox interrupts it temporarily, so the glands in the treated area stop producing sweat. The rest of the body sweats normally — the body does not “look for another outlet” to an extent that would bother you.
How long does it last? In the armpit, for most people six to eight months — longer than on the face; on the palms and feet somewhat shorter. It is repeated when the sweating returns.
When does it start working? In three to seven days, fully in two weeks. At the follow-up visit, any spot that still sweats is topped up.
Can I shave or use deodorant? Shave the armpits the day before the treatment, not on the same day. Deodorant and antiperspirant are avoided for 24 hours before and after. Sauna, a hot bath and the gym are skipped on the first day.
Can botox be combined with a procedure? Yes. With marked sweating of the armpit that keeps coming back, surgical removal of the sweat glands is possible; botox is less invasive and is more often chosen first. We discuss that when botox does not help enough.
Is it the same as botox for wrinkles? The same medicine, but a different dose, depth and arrangement of injections. For sweating it is given superficially into the skin, where the glands are, and not into the muscle.
Medical review: doctors of Poliklinika Barbel · October 2026.