SWEATING IT OUT: "The extreme level of sweat production experienced with hyperhidrosis can disrupt all aspects of a student's life, from academic performance, recreational activities and relationships, to self-image and overall emotional well-being....".

• Author: Kern, Merile E.
• Position: MEDICINE & HEALTH

AMID ALL of the things that school entails--whether in the elementary, secondary, or collegiate systems--there is a common but hidden scourge: excessive sweating. In fact, a national survey conducted by the International Hyperhidrosis Society (IHhS)--the scholars of sweat--shows as many as one in five teens suffers from extreme, uncomfortable, embarrassing, debilitating, and emotionally-devastating perspiration. This type of sweating is a medical condition known as hyperhidrosis; people of all ages struggle with it on their hands, feet, face, underarms, or body.

Hyperhidrosis can be particularly devastating for students at school, and even though so many younger children and teens experience excessive sweating, many are not aware that they have a treatable condition and often are too ashamed or afraid to talk to anyone--even their parents--about the problem.

While many young people will attempt to hide their perspiration problems and suffer in silence, the impacts are often hard to cover up. Dramatic sweating in the presence of peers at school, or in extracurricular or social environments, can cause severe embarrassment, stress, anxiety, and other emotional issues. Even when students are alone, away from potential judgements, hyperhidrosis often takes a heavy toll--adversely impacting a student's productivity in a myriad of ways.

From kindergartners to collegiates, students can struggle with disproportionate and random sweating that may drench clothing, ruin academic papers, damage technology tools, make playing sports and musical instruments difficult to impossible, promote hiding and isolation behaviors, degrade self-esteem, and prompt bullying. The holistic effect on life--academic and otherwise--thus is profound. Research published in Archives of Dermatological Research indicates that the majority of those with excessive sweating confirm the condition has negative impacts on their social life, well-being, and mental health.

According to dermatologists with the International Hyperhidrosis Society--an organization committed to helping improve the lives of hyperhidrosis sufferers--the school-age years, from elementary through high school and college, are obviously formative and an important time in young people's development of self-concept. Helping them to thrive includes the appropriate management of impactful health conditions like excessive perspiration.

Lisa J. Pieretti, executive director of IHhS, notes, "Excessive sweating is a...