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Volume 4 Issue 5

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While technology is one of my primary passions, I have concerns about many of the technological solu ons offered by the medical industry. A case in point is a new machine approved by the FDA last year called miraDry. It's basically a microwave gun (u lizing 5800 MHz wavelength energy) that radiates the sweat glands in your armpits, thereby destroying them. This effec vely shuts down sweat produc on in the treated area. This would superficially appear to be a wonderful new tool to eliminate what would seem to be one of life's major challenges, how to eliminate body odor from underarm swea ng. Swea ng is normal, of course, and serves very important func ons, including cooling your body and elimina ng toxins. But a ny minority of people (an es mated three percent) suffers from hyperhidrosis, or excessive swea ng, which can lead to social awkwardness and embarrassment. A common treatment is Botox injec ons – another poten ally risky alterna ve that is typically covered by health insurance. MiraDry treatments are not covered, and at a cost of about $3,000 for a two-session treatment, it's definitely not an inexpensive op on. This new device indeed does appear effec ve, but at what cost in terms of health? In two treatments, the device is said to destroy 22,000-30,000 underarm sweat glands (which equates to about two percent of your body's total sweat glands), reducing sweat volume by an average of 82 percent. The effect is not necessarily permanent, however. According to David Pariser, a professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, it's s ll not known whether your body might compensate for the lost sweat glands under your arms by increasing sweat produc on through the glands over the rest of your body. Is the MiraDry Device an Ideal Option to Reduce Sweating? According to the FDA, the miraDry system is "a microwave device designed to heat ssue located at the dermal- hypodermal interface where the sweat glands reside using a surface contact applicator." According to some sources, such as a Cigna, there's very li le evidence in the in the published, peer-reviewed scien fic literature to support the use of microwave radia on for the treatment of hyperhidrosis. Despite a myriad of unanswered ques ons, miraDry has received posi ve write-ups in The Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. But is it really wise to eliminate sweat glands? What are the side effects of a) microwaving your armpits, and b) elimina ng sweat glands? No one really seems to know what the poten al long-term side effects might be as of yet, but I'm willing to bet there are some. Not All TECH ADVANCES Are Good for You By Dr. Mercola Page 48 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com

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