You might associate Botox with people trying to turn back the clock on aging, but now it's being used for more than just cosmetics. NY1 Health & Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report.
For Karen Geisenheimer, 26, sweating was not just something that happened while playing sports.
"I had one of my best friend's weddings coming up and the dresses were very, very light satin green," she said. "I was actually thinking about not being in the wedding because I just knew how uncomfortable I would feel, and how awful I would look with gigantic sweat stains under my arm pits."
Geisenheimer has a condition called hyperhidrosis, which is the medical term for excessive sweating. In addition to underarms, the sweating can happen on the hands, feet, even on the face -- no matter what the temperature.
"When you think about the areas where you're sweating, like the hands and the underarms and even the forehead, these are not the areas where you sweat to control the temperature," said Dr. Doris Day, clinical professor of dermatology at NYU. "It's not about temperature control and the heat, this is really has to do with the connection with the brain to the sweat glands in those areas."
Treatments include everything from prescription anti-perspirants and oral medications, to even surgery. But patients like Geisenheimer say those options can be irritating or cause other side effects, like dry eyes and mouth.
Surgery helps, but even after that, many patients report starting to sweat in other spots.
So now more patients are turning to Botox injections to curb overactive sweat glands.
"We know exactly how the Botox works, down to the molecule, and we know that the areas that sweat use that same pathway to push the sweat out of the glands and by blocking that with Botox, we actually help to stop the sweating without any damage to the structures behind it, without any damage to your body," said Day.
The treatments last for about six months or longer, before it is time for another injection. Geisenheimer says it's given her confidence back.
"I would sit there wiping my armpits, run to the bathroom to put paper towels in my armpits, drive to my friend's house with the air conditioning shooting on my armpits, which none of it ever really helped, and stopped anything until Botox," said Geisenheimer. "Most people who don't suffer from it don't understand the limitations that it does present you with but I mean it's really changed my life."