miraDry for underarm sweating in London

The underarms are the one area miraDry is cleared for, and the one it was built for: primary axillary hyperhidrosis, excessive underarm sweating with no other medical cause, the kind that soaks and stains shirts. The treatment destroys the sweat glands in the underarm with microwave heat while the skin is cooled, and the manufacturer says the destroyed glands do not grow back. In the randomised trial, 89% of treated patients rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable at 30 days, against 54% with a sham treatment, and 69% at a year; in a study without a comparison group, sweat collected and weighed was 82% lower on average at a year. One or two sessions of about an hour to ninety minutes, under local anaesthetic, at Sweat Hospital, 130 Harley Street, with the price in writing at a free consultation.

What the underarm treatment gives

• Less sweat: 82% less on average at a year in the 31-adult study; 69% of patients rated their sweating never noticeable or tolerable at a year in the randomised trial; the improvement still there at three years in two follow-up surveys.
• Less odour, often: the share of patients saying their odour was not noticeable rose from 13% to between 61% and 74% in the 31-adult study. The US clearance wording is that it may reduce odour. A separate odour trial did not reach its main goal.
• Less hair: 75% fewer hairs on average at twelve months in the US clearance study of 56 adults, on fair to olive skin (types I to IV); 26% noticed hair loss in the sweating study.

Who it suits

Adults whose underarm sweating is excessive with no medical cause, scored 3 or 4 on the standard four-point scale, who have tried antiperspirants. It suits men as well as women. It also suits someone who has had injections for sweating and is tired of repeating them: in a 2024 trial that treated one underarm with each, the two matched on weighed sweat at one year, and 76% preferred the microwave side. Sweating with a medical cause, hands, feet, face, back and chest, and anyone under 18 are not treated here, and the full guide covers the alternatives.

The session and after

Shave four to six days before. Each underarm is marked with a template, numbed with local anaesthetic, and treated in up to 20 minutes with the handpiece moved square by square; about an hour to ninety minutes in all. Ice for a day or two, loose sleeves, no vigorous exercise for about three days. The underarms are swollen and tender for a week or two, bumpy for a few weeks and numb in patches for weeks to months. In the randomised trial 10% had altered feeling in the skin of the upper arm, lasting about two months on average. The how it works page describes each step and the downsides page gives the risks with their figures.

One session or two

Most people need one or two sessions, the second about three months after the first, decided on the sweating score at the review. The sessions page explains, and the price of a second session is in the written quote before you have the first.

Book a free consultation

Call Sweat Hospital on 0207 043 1116 or use the form below. The clinician scores your sweating, in our clinical judgment checks the fat layer under the arm and the list of things that rule it out, and gives you the plan and the price in writing.