Is There a Connection Between Autoimmune Diseases and Hyperhidrosis?

This question comes up from time-to-time with patients who develop isolated excessive sweating later in their lives. These same patients have an autoimmune disease. The question that we often get is whether there is a connection between the two.

To our knowledge, there is no connection. One should remember that hyperhidrosis usually starts at an early age. There is also a genetic history in more than 50% of the cases. Autoimmune diseases typically start in the later years of someone’s life (40+).

The hallmark of typical hyperhidrosis is that the patient sweats from the waist down and from the ankles down. This very specific piece of information is missed by a lot of doctors who try to label those patients with an autoimmune disease.

These usually affect the whole body and not specific parts. This distinction is important, and not all doctors understand this. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by the discovery of certain markers in the blood. Hyperhidrosis patients have NO markers in their blood.