The document outlines a graduation project focusing on iontophoresis as a treatment for hyperhidrosis, a condition affecting approximately 3% of the population due to excessive sweating. It describes how iontophoresis works and its benefits, while also addressing complications related to controlling the electrical current during treatment. The proposed solution includes a mobile application to automate and enhance the safety of the therapy process for both technicians and patients.

1. G R A D U A T I O N P R O J E C T I I
S P R I N G 2 0 1 6
I N S T R U C T O R :
D R . M O H A M M E D

2. OVERVIEW
• INTRODUCTION
• Personal Story – Root
• What is Iontophoresis?
• Background
• How it Works
• How it’s beneficial
• Complication
• Proposed Solution
• Interface
• Application
• How it Works

3. INTRODUCTION

4. • Approximately 3% of the population * (USA) suffers from an abnormal increase in body
sweating. (International Hyperhidrosis Society, 2015) This condition is often called
Hyperhidrosis.
• It occurs in unusual situations like cooler weather without a clear trigger. The condition can be
highly distressing and has significant effects on the everyday lives of people who suffer from it.
• While many researchers argue that the condition may be connected with a significant quality of
life from a mental, emotional, and social point of view, however, the condition is usually
treatable.

5. IONTOPHORESIS
?
WHAT IS

6. • Since the 1940’s, Iontophoresis has been used to
treat Hyperhidrosis (specifically on the palms and
feet)
• How it Works
• Iontophoresis is a medical device used to pass a
mild electrical current through water -while
normally using shallow pans sufficiently big
enough for hands or feet- and through the skins
surface.
• The patients places his/her palms or feet on
the trays submerged in ionized water while a
technician carefully and slowly increases the
electrical current until the patient feels a light
tingling sensation.
[INSERT VIDEO]

10. • Usually the current passes through the
plates for about 5 to 10 minutes with
regular current flow then the technician
switches the current in reverse for another 5
to 10 minutes.
• The therapy lasts about 30 to 40 minutes
per session and requires several sessions.
• The benefits of Iontophoresis are thought to
be long term and have no serious side effects
other than excessive dryness, skin irritation
and blistering at times.

11. • Its treatments have helped patients with Palmoplantar (on the palms
and feet) decrease sweating dramatically. While the treatment doesn’t
work on all patients, however one study found that it helped almost 91%
of patients, in another study it claims it helped reduce the sweating for
almost 81%.(International Hyperhidrosis Society, 2015)
• Iontophoresis has a variety of
uses in medicine including
diagnostic uses such as testing
the health of the endothelium of
the skin and is also very useful
in some laboratory experiments,
specifically in
neuropharmacology.
•Iontophoresis units are so
available for home use.

12. COMPLICATION

13. • While Iontophoresis has been quite successful and there has been a main
issue that dermatologists -and people using it- face. Increasing and
decreasing current and more specifically switching it to reverse manually is
a major issue. (Just like most electric current devices.) Any wrong turn or
slight drift in hand motion could generate an undesired current outcome
and consequently cause extreme discomfort for the patient and in some
cases even causes them a slight electric shock.

14. SOLUTION

15. • I’m proposing to build an application where the technician can safely
increase the current without any room for errors.
• In modern day, technicians and electricians prefer using specialized
programmed software that provides them a way to request précised
outcome to obtain highly accurate results.
•The application would provide
dermatologists (and/or users of
Iontophoresis) with the same
technology that would enable them to
use the machine wirelessly instead of
manually and thus solve the main
obstacle they face with the machine.

16. • Using NetBeans IDE 8.1

17. • Using Android Studio

20. •Furthermore, the application would allow the users to set the time for each
session, reset the timer again, also an emergency stop button, and for each
patient a separate file where all his/ her sessions are recorded.
 Virtual Machine being used. Nox

22. REFERENCES
o Pollack S. Electrosurgery. In: Bolognia JL, Jorizzo JL, Schaffer JV,
eds. Dermatology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2012:chap
140.
o International Hyperhidrosis Society (2015). Defining Hyperhidrosis. Retrieved
(October 28, 2015) from: http://www.sweathelp.org/en/home/defining-
hyperhidrosis.html
o International Hyperhidrosis Society (2015). Iontophoresis. Retrieved (October
28, 2015) from: http://www.sweathelp.org/en/hyperhidrosis-
treatments/iontophoresis.html
o SLUCare (2013, May 15). Iontophoresis. Retrieved (October 31, 2015) from:
http://slu.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=117&isArticleLink=false&pid=1
&gid=007293