Impact of primary hyperhidrosis on patients' quality of life in Damietta governorates

Primary hyperhidrosis (PH) is the presence of increased sweating in the absence of a physiological trigger or underlying identifiable pathological cause. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of primary hyperhidrosis on patients' quality of life in Damietta; one of Egypt's governorates. This cross sectional study included 302 patients aged between 8 and 35 years and fulfilling diagnostic criteria of primary hyperhidrosis. Data were collected using a hyperhidrosis quality of life index (HidroQoL) questionnaire and to assess the severity of hyperhidrosis (HH), we used the hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS). The majority of the participants had experienced some emotional sequelae as a result of the hyperhidrosis, and these were the most prevalent psychosocial domains of hyperhidrosis quality of life index. Patients were often very much embarrassed (57.6%) and were often nervous (51%) about sweat breaking out at any moment and very much frustrated (46.7%). Hyperhidrosis has a profound psycho-social impact on patients. Results demonstrated a significantly impactful and distressing illness that warrants equal attention as other more well-known skin conditions. Further multicenter large-scale and adequately powered randomized controlled trials are needed to provide an integrated approach for tackling the psychosocial impairment associated with hyperhidrosis.