If you have hyperhidrosis, your doctor might recommend botox injections to treat it. Medicare covers botox injections for hyperhidrosis, but only under certain conditions. Here’s what you should know before getting treatment.
Botox is a drug that affects muscle contraction. It may be useful to help people with health problems such as chronic migraines, overactive bladders, and extreme underarm sweating.
Read on to learn more about Is Botox For Hyperhidrosis Covered By Medicare, What Is It Like To Get Botox Injections? and What To Expect During Treatment
Is Botox For Hyperhidrosis Covered By Medicare
Doctors may use Botox to treat some medical conditionsTrusted Source caused by muscle and nerve problems. These may include chronic migraine, an overactive bladder, eye problems, and certain muscle stiffness.
There are seven types of botulinum toxin, although only types A and B have medical or cosmetic uses. These toxins include:
- abobotulinumtoxin A (Dysport)incobotulinumtoxin A (Xeomin)onabotulinumtoxin A (Botox)prabotulinumtoxin A (Jeuveau)rimabotulinumtoxin B (Myobloc)
‘Botox’ is a registered trademark, although people frequently use the word to describe any botulinum toxin product.
What is Medicare?
Medicare is a government program that provides health care coverage to United States citizens. Beneficiaries are usually aged 65 and above, or younger if the person has certain illnesses or disabilities.
People can choose to receive their Medicare benefits either through original Medicare, which has Part A hospital coverage and Part B medical coverage, or through a bundled Medicare Advantage plan. Advantage plans include parts A and B coverage, plus other benefits such as prescription drug, dental, vision, and hearing coverage.
Most people do not pay a premium for Medicare Part A because they have paid enough Medicare taxes during their working life. For Medicare Part B, people must pay a monthly premium. In 2020, the standard premium is $144.60 per month.
Medicare beneficiaries also must pay out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles, coinsurance, and copays, for covered treatments and services.
What is Medicare coverage for Botox?
Medicare will not cover the cost of Botox treatments for cosmetic purposes.
Generally, if the FDA has approved Botox for a particular medical treatment, Medicare covers the cost. If a doctor prescribes Botox for medically necessary reasons, it will be as done as an outpatient medical procedure and covered by original Medicare Part B.
FDA approvalTrusted Source, and therefore Medicare coverage, includes the following procedures in adults:
- severe underarm sweatingpreventing migrainesoveractive bladdereyelid spasmscervical dystonia (a nerve disease that causes neck pain)
In addition, Botox is approved by the FDATrusted Source for use in a child for upper limb spasticity (for a child older than two years) and crossed eyes (for a child older than 12 years).
What Is It Like To Get Botox Injections?
Your appointment will likely last about 45 minutes but the injections will only take 20 to 30 minutes.
Botox injections work best when given by an experienced practitioner. Injections don’t take long and can be completed during an office visit. A professional will mark your skin with ink and inject the Botox medication just below the surface of the skin using a fine needle. You’ll receive 15 to 20 injections that form a grid pattern around your area of concern. Some clinics may give you slightly more.
The practitioner may give you something to prevent pain, like ice or a numbing agent.
You can return to work and normal life as soon as you’re done with your Botox injections. The practitioner will likely ask you to schedule a follow-up appointment to check in and touch up any missed spots.
When do the effects of Botox kick in for sweating?
You can resume your normal activities immediately after receiving Botox injections. It usually takes between 2 and 4 days to notice your results and 2 weeks for the injections to take full effect.
The effects of Botox are temporary, which means you’ll need more injections in the future. For underarm sweating, booster injections are generally needed every 7 to 16 months. Results may not last as long for the hands and feet, and you may need to repeat your treatment after about 6 months. However, there’s still limited research examining the effectiveness of Botox for these body parts.
What To Expect During Treatment
During the treatment, a fine needle is used to inject Botox into the treatment area. Your physician or nurse will use multiple small injections, performed in a grid-like pattern. In order to determine the pattern, your physician or nurse will first need to determine the exact location of the overactive sweat glands.
“We start by properly cleaning the underarms,” explains Dillenberg, “and then apply iodine solution (a topical antiseptic). After the solution dries, we then dust on baby powder and have the patient hold their arms tightly to their body to stimulate sweating in the area. Sometimes we even ask the patient to jump up and down, anything to get the sweating going! After about 10 minutes, we then look at the underarms to see where the darkest spots from the iodine solution are.” She explains the darkest spots denote the exact target of the overactive sweat glands. Once the target spots are properly cleaned off, your physician or nurse will begin the injections.
According to Dillenberg, “there are a few small injections that feel like little pinches during the procedure.” Post procedure, she says, there should be no lingering pain, although “there can be some injection site redness or bruising.”