miraDry questions answered

miraDry is priced per session and per course, confirmed in writing at your free consultation, with a price match on any comparable written quote. Consultations and follow-up reviews are free. The written quote says whether it covers one session or two and what a second session costs if you need one.

No, it is free. Every treatment starts with a consultation, because the clinician has to score your sweating, check the list of things that rule miraDry out, and, in our clinical judgment, look at the fat layer under the arm, which affects the nerve risk. You can book one from abroad by phone or through the form.

Not usually. NICE reviewed the procedure in 2017 and said it should be used only with special arrangements for clinical governance, consent and audit or research. NICE lists lifestyle measures and antiperspirants first, then iontophoresis, botulinum toxin injections or tablets, and surgery if those do not work. The NHS and UK question is covered in the full guide.

Yes, privately, at Sweat Hospital, 130 Harley Street, London W1G 7JU.

One or two: in a retrospective 2025 series of 139 patients from one Austrian clinic, using the newer miraDry fresh protocol, 84% needed only one session, and the second, where it is needed, comes about three months after the first. The clinician scores your sweating at the free consultation and again at the review before planning a second.

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The manufacturer says the destroyed glands do not grow back, and the published follow-ups show the reduction holding. Sweat was 82% lower on average at a year in one study, 69% rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable at a year in the randomised trial, and two surveys found the improvement still there at three years.

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For underarm sweating that antiperspirants have not controlled, in our clinical judgment yes: in the randomised trial 69% still rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable a year after treatment, and two follow-up surveys found the improvement still there at three years. It treats the underarms only.

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Within weeks: the first check in the randomised trial was 30 days after treatment, when 89% of treated patients rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable against 54% with a sham, and in the 31-adult study the average reduction 30 days after the last session held to a year. Swelling in the first week or two can make the underarm feel different before the result is clear.

Yes. Primary axillary hyperhidrosis, excessive underarm sweating with no other cause, is what it is cleared for in the US. Sweating caused by a medical condition or a medication is secondary hyperhidrosis, and the clinician asks about it at the consultation because the cause needs looking at first.

It may, and often does, as a side effect: in the 31-adult study the share of patients saying their odour was not noticeable rose from 13% to between 61% and 74%. The separate odour trial did not reach its main goal, so the US clearance wording is only that it may reduce odour, and that wording covers odour only when the treatment is for underarm sweating.

It reduces it. In the US clearance study of 56 adults the hair count was 75% lower on average at twelve months, stable from six months on, on fair to olive skin (types I to IV). In the 31-adult sweating study, 26% noticed hair loss. It is a side effect of treating the sweat glands, not a reason to have the treatment.

The local anaesthetic injections are the part you feel most, and the maker's manual says they will likely cause discomfort. Once the underarm is numb, in our experience most people feel pressure, warmth and suction rather than pain. Afterwards the underarms are sore and swollen for days, like a bruise, and tender for a week or two.

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Most people are at work the next day in our experience. Ice for the first day or two, loose sleeves, and no vigorous exercise for about three days. Expect swelling for a week or two, bumps under the skin for a few weeks, and patches of numbness that fade over weeks to months.

Swelling and tenderness for days, and bumps and patches of numbness for weeks to months. In the randomised trial 10% had altered feeling in the upper-arm skin for about two months on average and 5% a blister, burn or ulcer; nerve injury is rare. It treats the underarms only and needs local anaesthetic. NICE asks clinics to tell you about the nerve risk, and we do.

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It was reported by 3% of treated patients in the randomised trial. The manufacturer's manual lists altered sweating elsewhere on the body among its rare reports.

No. miraDry is cleared in the US for the underarms only, and the manufacturer states it is not indicated for any other body area or for generalised sweating. We do not treat any other area, and the clinician will say at the consultation what the options for those areas are.

Anyone with a pacemaker or another electronic implant, anyone on supplemental oxygen, and anyone who cannot have local anaesthetic with lidocaine and adrenaline. Pregnancy and the darkest skin type have not been tested. The manual also discourages treatment in pregnancy and after surgery in the armpit, asks for specialist medical advice before treating anyone with a metal implant, and calls for caution with very little fat under the skin and in anyone who is immunocompromised or heals poorly.

We treat adults. All the published trials were in adults, and the manufacturer's stated use in Europe is in adults, so we do not treat under-18s; for a teenager, prescription antiperspirants and the GP are the first step.

Yes. The US clearance is not limited by sex, and the treatment is the same for men; the trials enrolled mostly women (58% in the randomised trial, 75% in the 31-adult study).

Yes. Tell the clinician when you had them: in our clinical judgment, we score your sweating once the injections have worn off, so the score is yours and not the injection's, and plan from there.

In a 2024 trial that treated one underarm with each, sweat weighed at one year was the same for the microwave treatment and for botulinum toxin, and 76% preferred the microwave side; most said they valued avoiding continuous treatment. Injections suit someone who wants to try a reversible treatment first; miraDry suits someone who wants it done.

The clinic is doctor led and CQC registered, and our treatments are given by clinicians in a doctor-led team.

Sweat Hospital, 130 Harley Street, London W1G 7JU, a short walk from Regent's Park, Great Portland Street and Baker Street stations. Call 0207 043 1116 during opening hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm) or use the form below at any time and we call you back.