Is it safe to block your sweat glands using driclor and other clinical strength antiperspirants? (Photo)

The risks of aluminum on the sweat glands is not well known. You might want to consider MiraDry for underarm excessive sweat as it leads to permanent results.Good luck. Dr. ALDO 

There is some recent controversy amongst antiperspirants which use aluminum and paraben as potentially being toxic and carcinogenic which has popularized the use of all natural deodorants.  Local reactions are common with aluminum based antiperspirants and they are not effective for everyone.  It is unlikely that the use of aluminum based antiperspirants will lead to this and previous research suggests this as well (1982 study by Morgan and Leicester)

Yes Driclor is safe and would not cause hydradenitis as this is a condition of a genetic predisposition with factors such as overweight and smoking increasing the severity . Driclor can cause irritation and should be used at night on dry skin and washed off in the morning and frequency titrated down to a couple of times per week 

It is safe in the sense that it won't cause you to overheat.The long term consequences for the use of alum chloride containing compounds on the development of breast cancer is not convincingly known. I do not believe it causes hydradenitis.H Karamanoukian MD FACSCEnter for Excessive Sweating, established 1999

We consider MiraDry the best treatment for underarm sweating since it is non-surgical, permanent, and is chemical free. It permanently kills the sweat glands and odor glands in the underarm. Hidradenitis suppurativa will not occur after MiraDry in the underarms. 

The answer is yes. You also have the option of BOTOX under the Medicare and PBS rebate scheme. Under guidelines this treatment is subsidised for HH or eccrine gland modulation, and not HS. One treatment can last up to and well beyond 6-8 months. Though it works on eccrine glands it can be A POSSIBLE treatment for HS. With the decrease in sweating comes the decrease in bacteria. This in turn helps patients with HS. Done many a patient with both HH and HS, and it seems to turn the HS down by 50-80 %, on average. Dr Davin S. Lim. Brisbane. AUSTRALIA. 

This is a good question. I do not think you need to worry about getting the condition known as Hydradenitis  ( more complicated , not caused by blocked sweat glands)Hyperhidrosis management can also include injections of neuromodulators ( Botox or Xeomin or Dysport). I think they work better than the clinical strength deodorants. It lasts about 4-6 months before sweating excessively comes back. If you are satisfied with only the Driclor, then you can continue using it.Hope this helps you,Dr Beverly Johnson