Mess, for a lot of people, the studies you propose make a lot of sense. Certainly scientific and usable data should always be made readily available. I absolutely agree with you on that. There are people who would appreciate the opportunity of having that type of information, but not everyone.

I think you forget to include a very important element in your proposal which is humanness. Many of us that sweat and blush have already been somewhat damaged by these conditions and all the scientific data in the world wont mean a thing to a young person who is convinced that ETS is their only chance at happiness. Theyre convinced that this wonderful, lifesaving godlike surgeon with his miracle cure is the only one who understands about their misery.

Plain and simple, what they really need to understand is that these surgeons dont give two shits about them or their problems. This is all about money, nothing else.

There is already sufficient cause for concern, even if the data is anecdotal, for these surgeons to have questioned the validity of ETS as a cure. They havent cured anything. All theyve done is moved things around which is acceptable to some, others not.

We look at their websites and its the same old blah, blah, blah....whose technique is better, who was a pioneer in the development of ETS, whose surgery causes less side effects. None of their systems is infallible. Every single one of them, even with all the different methods used, has caused serious harm and yet they dont think twice about doing it again and again and again.

Another element that has to be considered is each persons level of tolerance and which also cant be measured scientifically. A person who blushed but never sweated before ETS might be devastated by a level of CS which to me, a person with hyperhidrosis, wouldnt think twice about handling. I never blushed in my life but going through menopause with the hot flashes probably was very similar to what a blusher/flusher would experience and believe me, it was no picnic. If I had gone through ETS and ended up like that, I would have been a very miserable camper. So things like that can't be measured yet they need to be included with any data presented to prospective ETS patients.

And where will the satisfaction rates come from? The follow ups from surgeons are miserably lacking and no one ever challenges the figures they put out. They can let their imagination run wild and whos to stop them. And on the other side of the fence, there are many, many reasons why we havent heard from more unhappy ETSers. Its not that theyre out there enjoying life, free from blushing and sweating, like the pro-ETS groups like to spout off about. I can probably come up with a dozen reasons why we dont hear from more people and with them, the dissatisfied group would be much, much larger.

Defining the impact of ETS is not as easy as doing a scientific study. And I know you're aware of that fact, but if someone is considering ETS and should read our posts, we want them to see there is much more than just scientific data that they have to decide upon.

Carole