Introduction:

Hyperhidrosis is a primary disorder characterized by excessive sweating, affecting most frequently the palms of the hands. The disease brings about limitations that interfere in the individual's social, occupational, interpersonal and affective relationships, and produces, from the early stages of life, psychic damage manifested fundamentally through complexes and a decrease in self-esteem.

Objective:

To determine how videothoracoscopic sympathicotomy influences the living standard of patients diagnosed with palmar hyperhidrosis.

Methods:

A retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out in 82 patients with a diagnosis of palmar hyperhidrosis, who were performed single-port videothoracoscopic sympathicotomy. We applied the Rivas-Milanez survey, which evaluates quality of life before and after surgery.

Results:

The female sex predominated, the level of satisfaction of the patients was 97.6%, compensatory sweating occurred in 34.1% of the intervened patients, and improvement of quality of life was 93.2%. Compensatory sweating was tolerated well in most patients.

Conclusions:

Videothoracoscopic sympathicotomy in palmar hyperhidrosis is an adequate treatment for improving the quality of life of patients.

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