The manufacturer says the destroyed glands do not grow back, so the result is meant to last, and the published follow-ups say it does. In a 2012 study of 31 adults, sweat collected and weighed was 83% lower at 30 days and 82% lower on average at twelve months, and stable between. In the randomised trial, 69% of treated patients still rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable at a year. Two later surveys followed patients to about three years and found the improvement still there. In our experience, if sweating returns in part, a further session is the usual answer, agreed at your review.
The follow-ups
- Twelve months: 83.1%, 82.3%, 82.1% and 81.7% less sweat on average at 30 days, three, six and twelve months in the 31-adult study, so the result at a month is the result at a year.
- Twelve months, randomised: 89% rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable at 30 days, 74% at three months, 69% at twelve, in the 81 treated patients, against 54% of 39 on a sham at 30 days.
- Three years: a 2026 Swedish follow-up of 103 treated patients, of whom 87 were contacted and 45 answered, found the typical score had moved from "barely tolerable" to "tolerable" at three years. A 2021 telephone survey of 18 patients at an average of 38 months put the sweat reduction at 61% to 70%.
- Against injections: in a 2024 trial that treated one underarm with each, sweat collected and weighed at one year was the same for the microwave treatment and for botulinum toxin, after one treatment of each at the start; most patients preferred the microwave side, valuing that it avoided continuous treatment.
What can change
Sweating elsewhere rarely changes: in the randomised trial 2 of 81 treated patients (3%) reported more sweating somewhere else, and the treatment does nothing for hands, feet or the back. The sessions page explains when a second session is planned.
Odour and hair
Both are often reduced as well: the heat reaches the odour-producing glands in the same layer as the sweat glands, and the manufacturer says it destroys the underarm hair follicles too. In the US clearance study for hair, the hair count was 75% lower on average at twelve months and stable from six months on. For odour, the share of patients saying it was not noticeable rose from 13% to between 61% and 74% in the 31-adult study, though the separate odour trial did not reach its main goal. Neither is the reason to have the treatment.
Book a free consultation
Call Sweat Hospital on 0207 043 1116 or use the form below. The clinician scores your sweating before treatment and reviews the score with you at three months.
