Written for the UK
Excessive sweating,
explained properly
Almost every guide to hyperhidrosis online is American — dollar prices, insurance, and products you cannot get here. This one is not. What you can buy without a prescription, what the NHS actually funds, and which products are worth the money.
- UK pricing and NHS routes, not US insurance
- Sources cited to NHS, NICE and the BAD
- Affiliate-funded and disclosed
Three things American advice gets wrong for UK readers
No prescription
The strongest antiperspirants — 20% aluminium chloride — are sold over the counter in UK pharmacies. American sites will tell you that you need a prescription. You do not.
Driclor and Anhydrol ForteNo NICE guideline
NICE has never published a hyperhidrosis guideline. Beyond first-line antiperspirant, what you can get is decided locally by your ICB — which is why care varies so much by area.
What UK guidance actually saysNot licensed here
Qbrexza and Sofdra are the treatments US coverage talks about most. Neither is licensed in the UK, so no GP can prescribe them however much you have read about them.
Can you get Sofdra in the UK?Work out where you stand
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How bad is it, really?
Score yourself on the scale clinicians use, then print a summary to take to your GP.
Take the 60-second checkFind one strong enough
Filter by strength, body area and what you can actually buy in the UK.
Open the finderWhat will it cost?
Private UK prices for iontophoresis, Botox, miraDry and surgery — and what the NHS funds.
Compare costsStart with what actually works
For most people the first genuinely effective step is a 20% aluminium chloride antiperspirant — cheap, and available over the counter in any UK pharmacy.
Driclor is the classic UK pharmacy aluminium chloride antiperspirant: 20% aluminium chloride hexahydrate in a roll-on applicator, applied at night to dry skin and washed off in the morning. Now marketed by Haleon, it remains the benchmark strong antiperspirant that most others are compared against.
at Amazon UK
Perspirex is the Danish-made (Riemann) clinical antiperspirant range built around aluminium chloride buffered with aluminium lactate to cut irritation. The Comfort/Original/Strong ladder plus hand and foot lotions make it the most flexible of the UK clinical antiperspirant brands.
at Amazon UK
Odaban is a 20% aluminium chloride antiperspirant in a silicone-based pump spray, developed by UK pharmacist Jeff Bracey around 1970. The spray format and skin-buffering base make it the pick for feet and larger body areas, and a little goes a long way.
at Amazon UK
The Thompson Tee is a sweat-proof undershirt featuring a patented Hydro-Shield barrier sewn into the underarm area. It absorbs sweat and allows it to evaporate without ever reaching your outer shirt, completely eliminating visible sweat stains. Made from soft bamboo rayon, it is comfortable enough for all-day wear and a game-changer for anyone tired of sweat marks ruining their confidence and their wardrobe.
US merchant, plus any import charges
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If antiperspirant is not enough
The next steps, roughly in the order a UK clinician would work through them.
Iontophoresis
Tap water and a mild current. The best-evidenced option for hands and feet.
From ~£350 for a home device
Botulinum toxin
Injections that stop the signal to the sweat glands for four to seven months.
£350–£700 privately
Tablets
Propantheline is the only one licensed here. Oxybutynin is used off-label.
NHS prescription charge
Surgery (ETS)
Irreversible, rarely funded, and compensatory sweating affects most patients.
Last resort
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