Impact of hyperhidrosis on quality of life and its assessment.

Hyperhidrosis is an embarrassing condition that may interfere with routine activities, cause emotional distress, and disturb both professional and social lives of patients. Objective examination is variable and unreliable, so efforts have been made in the last 15 years to substantiate the limitations of these patients, especially in primary focal hyperhidrosis. Almost all therapeutic studies use standardized or self-designed instruments to evaluate the impact of the disease on quality of life and the improvement achieved by treatment. This article gives an overview of the difficulties with which patients with hyperhidrosis are confronted and of research investigating the restrictions.