“My doctor in London referred me to India for a corrective surgery,” said Doyle, who underwent the surgery late last month at a city hospital. “There was a time when I sweated so much that it would start dripping from my face and hands — not a lot of people were comfortable with this. So I decided to get it corrected.”

Doyle was suffering from hyperhidrosis, a condition that causes excessive sweating and which usually begins in either childhood or adolescence. Excessive sweating may result in irritation of the affected skin, ultimately leading to chafing. Hyperhidrosis can either be generalised or localised to specific body parts.

“This is a very common condition among Indians, though the level of awareness is very low,” said Dr Arun Prasad, senior consultant, general surgery, at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, where Doyle underwent the surgery. “People do not consider excessive sweating as a serious medical condition but it can be corrected through a minor surgery.

“The cause of primary Hyperhidrosis is unknown but some surgeons claim it is caused by sympathetic over-activity. Anxiety can also worsen the situation.”

Doctors at Apollo rectified this defect by performing Endoscopic Thoracic Sympathectomy (ETS) on Doyle on October 24. “During the procedure we had to destroy certain portions of the sympathetic nerve trunk,” Dr Prasad said.