Help for excessive sweating - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Shelby Keefer says she can't ever have enough antiperspirant.

"I go back and forth between using regular and more clinical strength," she said.

In her purse, at work, at home; this elementary school teacher has strategically placed sticks of antiperspirant everywhere, so she can reapply often.

Keefer says from the time she was 10 she has sweat profusely, sometimes for no reason.

"A lot of white shirts get ruined or discolored, which is annoying," she said.

Keefer is hoping a new FDA-approved treatment will fix her problem.

First, a nurse maps out her underarm and gives her 20-30 shots of numbing anesthetic. Then the doctor starts to run a device, called MiraDry, over her underarm skin. It sucks up sections of the skin, and then shoots them with microwaves.

"We're actually heating up the junction between the second and third layer of the skin and we're destroying the sweat glands," explained Dr. David Goldberg, a skin laser and surgery specialist.

One in five Americans feel they sweat too much, a condition called hyperhidrosis, and antiperspirants don't do a lot to help. Before MiraDry, the most sought-after treatment was Botox injections, which stops sweating for a few months.

A company study shows patients who used MiraDry experience an 82 percent reduction in sweat over 18 months.

Keefer has a few weeks of soreness and swelling ahead of her, and then she must repeat the process a second time.

"If it gets rid of most of my sweating, then yeah, it's worth it," she said.

Most patients say the results are immediate.

The procedure can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 and insurance does not cover it.