Kean B. Lawlor, MD

I've had about three treatments with the PicoSure laser on my 11 year old foot tattoo which includes blue, purple, white, and black ink (including three previous treatments with a different laser). The results so far are awesome! Not only is the PicoSure targeting the blues/purples (which are harder to remove) but in those three treatments I've also seen considerable lightening of my tattoo overall ... and a noticeable difference each treatment. It's easy to see that the PicoSure will cut my treatment time down considerably (I was originally quoted at 12+ with the older tattoo).

I saw Dr. Lawlor two times for excessive armpit sweat. This has been a problem for me since I was a teenage. Thanks to the two procedures, I have completely changed what I am comfortable wearing because I sweat about 80% less than I used to. The procedure wasn't too bad, in terms of pain...especially considering the results. For a couple weeks after each procedure my armpits were pretty swollen, which the staff warned me about. There was also some lingering numbness from the procedures, which was weird but not terrible. Basically, miradry is a great option for people who suffer from excessive sweating. It's been a year or so since my last visit, and I don' even think about underarm sweat anymore. That is a complete shift from what used to be an everyday struggle.

Time for another review! It has been a little over two months since my second Miradry session and the results are good. After going over my concerns, they were able to choose a larger treatment template for me this time. The actual procedure and the recovery time were about the same, though I had a lot more recovery sweating this time.

Now the sweating has settled and I only sweat a little from the center of my underarms. I'm still not satisfied with overall results though. I still sweat a good portion from the edge areas and folds that only went through one treatment or were not reached at all, so I still get armpit sweat marks on my tops. The weather has been warmer of course, but these sweat marks still occur even after working inside a cold air-conditioned building all day.

So overall, I've seen progress since the first session, but I'm definitely in the small percentage of patients with true hyperhidrosis who need a third treatment. Next time it won't be back to back like my first two sessions (1st session in March 2017 and 2nd in June 2017). I'll be giving myself a year to see if there's any further improvement and to save up for the third session. I think for someone who sweats normally or someone who wants to stop using temporary treatments that work, one session will be enough. For those like me where BOTOX doesn't work and other methods either don't work or have bad side effects, you may want to plan ahead for multiple sessions. As a student on the quarter system, it worked best for me to have the procedures during my school breaks. On the other hand, financially having three sessions over the course of nine months is not possible with the rates I was given and my situation as a grad school student. The price listed in this review is for both sessions. In the meantime I still take oral medications to help with the sweating.

Plan ahead and you'll be golden! I'm open to answering any questions that come up.

MiraDry has been great!
I've had hyperhidrosis since I was 13 on my underarms, feet, and face. I also have severe environmental and chemical allergies that led me to this procedure; all antiperspirants and topical medications I tried caused me to break out into hives or led to hospital visits. Also, many of them simply did not work for me. This is the only method that has worked so far, and I'll make an update after my second treatment.

Updated on 16 Apr 2017:
As of today, all the swelling and all but two of the lumps have subsided. My first post had a link to a third party website which was deleted, so I will put the details in writing right. If anyone wants to see a video of my experience, please contact me directly or look for this username on any popular video sharing websites. I'll try to post it here if I can.
I went through this procedure because I have had problems with excessive sweating since I was twelve. I wanted to get this done during my finals week because I am currently in a year-round graduate school program for my field. I am especially self-conscious about my sweating because I am training to become an audiologist, and that means I'll be lifting my arms and exposing the area where I get sweat stains when I look in patient's ears or prepare to do hearing tests. I don't want my future patients to see those sweat marks or to smell me. Unfortunately, my sweating was so severe that it was even a factor in my process of choosing where to go for graduate school (I'm in Seattle now).
3.14.17 - The day of the procedure. I felt no pain or heat during the process, though I was ticklish towards the lower center portions of my underarms. I am very ticklish though. The area was numb throughout that entire evening (my procedure was done around 2:10pm). The setting was on level 5 and my template was 120 x 70. It was starting to swell when I went to bed but the lidocaine was wearing off so I couldn't fall asleep with the ice packs on; it was just too cold.
3.15 - I had a lot of swelling this day but I still had a full day at work. I followed someone's advice of using frozen 8oz bottles wrapped in socks to keep the areas cold throughout the day when I was sitting at my desk. I felt like most of the swelling was the solution they used to puff out my underarm during the procedure, and it wasn't painful. I even went to get my allergy shots done later that day and there were no issues or complications with that. No one at work could tell that I had gotten it done except the coworkers I told beforehand.
3.17.17 (72 hours after) - I was still sore this day, but mostly around my neck and upper back. This was mostly because I slept in the same position on my back since the procedure. I didn't want to put pressure on either of my underarms but I am a side sleeper. So I recommend investing in a good pillow if you don't have one already! I iced all the time when I was home after school or work every day and at this point I was still taking the prescription oral antibiotics. By this day the topical antibiotics were done. I also continued taking the over the counter NSAIDS because I couldn't ice my underarms as much as I'd like. I don't think my amount of swelling the day the procedure after was typical because I couldn't ice often when I was at school or work. I countered that by continuing to use NSAIDS like ibuprofen. By this day, the swelling was down enough that I could bring my arms all the way down.
3.18 - I flew to Texas from Seattle, and it was wonderful because I didn't have any sweat on the flight! Up to this point, I still didn't have any underarm sweat in the treated areas since the procedure.
3.19 - I survived the Texas heat! The majority of the sweat I experienced this day was on the lower and upper edges of my underarms that I think did not get treated. See my little disclaimer at the end of this post. I was able to borrow a very silk-like thin shirt and wear it with my undershirt without any visible sweat stains that day though. It was all caught by the undershirt (I typically sweat through both that and my shirt).
I still wasn't wearing any deodorant at this point. This was the first time my underarms felt a little tender to the touch, but still not painful. The hairs have not grown back as fast as they usually do, and in fact I could test and take out a hair with no issues. It wasn't even attached to the follicle (which might have been destroyed by this procedure). I love this side effect because I typically have a lot of ingrown hairs on my underarms! I could stretch my arms all the way up too, so my range of mobility without soreness was back.
3.31(about 2 weeks after) - All of the swelling has gone down. My hyper-pigmentation stayed the same (it did not get worse from this procedure). At this point, I had been wearing deordorant for a week. My sweating is back. This is mostly from the sweat glands that recovered and from the areas that didn't get treated. I do still have visible sweat stains on my shirts, but I've noticed that I haven't had sweat dripping down my sides or arms since the procedure (so my shirt picks up ALL the sweat and its not as ENTIRELY drenched as before.) At this point, I had returned to Seattle from a week in Central Texas and Missouri. That week was fine with the sweat steadily coming back, but now it's at a point where it almost feels like I may need a third treatment after this next one.
4.16 (one month and two days later)- My sweating is still more than an average person's, but I have my next miraDry session scheduled for the second week of June. I did the first session knowing that I would go in for a second one because I have hyperhidrosis and I've been diagnosed with this since I was sixteen. One amazing side effect is that the hairs in the treated area have come out and only a few parts (mostly in the creases and outer edges) have grown back. I have some ingrown hairs still, but it's not as bad as before.
The tenderness is gone. I still use mineral stick deodorant, which is the only one my underarms can take without an allergic reaction (this sensitivity was already there before this procedure as I have an allergy to fragrance, nickel sulfate and a few other things).
Smell isn't as much of an issue since this first session, and I only apply the deodorant once or twice a day instead of 3 or more times. I still can't wear any antiperspirants because of my allergies so this Spring season will be interesting.... but it won't be as bad as it used to be. I can't wait until I can get the second one done!
**My biggest issue was shaving before the procedure!!*** Shave or trim your underarm hair 2-3 days before, NOT the day before or the day of!!! It's best if you and your provider can see where you hair line is, because that's also where your sweat glands are. Both the nurse and I could not see where my hair ended because I trimmed it down really short and I also have hyper-pigmentation. I think because of that, I didn't get my entire sweat-active areas treated, and I was still sweating and had sweat marks from the lower and upper parts of my underarms that were not treated. When I have my second procedure in June, I will make sure to shave a few days BEFORE the process and to show where my sweating was unaffected.

Updated on 16 Apr 2017:
Here are more pictures. The video is too long to post here but I'll continue posting pictures from the procedure and the recovery. .

Updated on 6 Jun 2017:
I was still experiencing excessive sweating and stains on my clothes after the last update. I'll include pictures from the time in between. The amount of sweat is less than before the 1st Miradry treatment, but still more than a 'typical' person's amount of sweat. By mid-April, things settled down to about a 15-20% reduction in sweat. I went back to a dermatologist in my healthcare system and started taking oral anticholinergic medications at the beginning of May. It has helped some, but I haven't gone up to the full dosage yet; I am still getting used to the side effects. I think since I'm only at half the max prescribed dosage, I am not experiencing as much sweat reduction as possible through the medication.

To summarize, I still experience excessive sweating, even after the 1st Miradry treatment and half the max dosage of oral anticholinergic medication. Since my next MiraDry session is later this week, I stopped taking the medication yesterday. This way I can accurately gauge the sweat reduction by Miradry alone. I'm really hoping that I won't need to continue the oral medication or do a third Miradry treatment after this.