No more sweaty palms and smelly feet

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: For six years, 12-year-old Tan Juin Hong lived with the embarrassment of having sweaty palms and smelly feet.
"My palms sweat so much that my books and papers would get wet when I write. I had to carry a handkerchief or a towel to wipe my palms all the time," said the Chung Hwa Seremban student.
The excessive sweating also caused his feet to smell.
But, Tan can now put the handkerchiefs and towels away as his problem has finally come to an end following an Endoscopic Thoracic Sympathectomy (ETS) at the National Heart Institute (IJN) yesterday.
He is the youngest patient to have undergone the video-assisted thoracic surgery which was performed by consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Jeswant Dillon.
Tan’s mother Cheok Guat Ling, 39, said she became aware that her son was suffering from hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) when he was in Standard One.
"I took him to the Port Dickson Hospital and the doctors thought his problem could be due to thyroid.
"A battery of tests, however, ruled out thyroid and other diseases.
"They then told him that he would have to live with his sweaty palms and feet."
Desperate, Cheok took her only son to several sinsehs (traditional healers) over the last few years but nothing helped.
"I finally came to know about the ETS in IJN and brought him last month to see Dr Jeswant. As his condition was bad, the doctor recommended surgery," said Cheok who is happy that Tan would now be like other boys.
Dr Jeswant said the surgery which took about one-and-a-half hours was minimally invasive and as a result, patients suffered less pain and enjoyed early recovery with only a day of hospitalisation.
He said some 2.5 million Malaysians suffer from sweaty face, palms, armpit and feet.
"It is not life-threatening but it is a socially embarrassing disorder which can affect people psychologically and emotionally," said Dr Jeswant.