Antiperspirants ?

[barclay]

I sweat so much when I am playing tennis that my leg slips out of the prosthesis! I have a pin lock system with a distal cap inside the silicon pin liner. I am thinking about using an antiperspirant and I wanted to know if any one has tried that, knows of troubles with particular brands or ingredients, etc.

Any other suggestions are welcome too (just not a different prosthesis as that is at least a year and several doctors approval away, but somehow in the works...)

Thanks !!
Cynthia

[tedatrowercpo]

Wearing an antiperspirant on your residual is no more irritating than using it under your arms. Be careful to stay away from greasy or sticky brands / styles.

[ann-]

Hi Cynthia

I tried Driclor (think thats the right spelling) this summer and didn't find it that helpful, it helped with the sweating slightly but noticed a few spots also ... how well is your prosthesis fitting as I am finding I sweat more when its too big/loose ... not sure if anyone else has noticed this.

Ann

[stonecutter]

Wow... See - you learn something new every day! I've had the exact experience you described, but I've never tried anything on my stump to counteract the problem. Interesting idea.

[barclay]

Thanks for the input!

Ann - the prosthesis is new and does need to be tighter around the knee which should also help (we are still in the tweaking stage).

I'll post how the experiment goes.

-Cynthia

[barclay]

Well, I tried Gilette gel and it helped, but during this time, my prosthesis was also getting tweaked. Last night when I played, I didn't use the antiperspirant and my leg didn't sweat very much. So somehow, I think that in a tight fitting prosthesis the stump doesn't sweat. Has anyone else noticed this ?
The one caveat with the antiperspirant is that it dissolved the blister bandage I had on - just a bit at the edges, but still something to be careful about.

[ann-]

I think maybe this could be the case Cynthia.
When I first had the liner I really sweated a lot, but this settled down. The first summer I was walking quite a bit and the sweating wasn't a problem .... but the leg wasn't fitting me this summer, and I was doing less walking but had more of an issue with sweat.

[mom2noble]

My little man has the very same problem. He's got a pin liner system. I find that the farther up his silocone liner goes, the less slipage. I was cutting them to about 1 in over his knee, but now with more like 3 inches (he is only 6 so has a small leg still) he has alot less slippage. I guess its more surface area to grab. If you look at pictures of the awesome woman long distance runner, her liner goes really high up her quadricept. i imagine thats because of this very problem. I get worried about putting too much aluminum into the skin and glands....i am a worry wort though.
holly

[ann-]

Like you Holly, I am not to keen about putting too much aluminum into the skin, I did try it a few times this summer but found it made my leg quite spotty, I have skin grafting so spots in themselves can be or cause problems so stopped using it, but I can see how, when using the pin system, having the liner longer might cause less slippage.
I am not using the pin system and use a sleeve as suspension and find I need a gap of at least two or three inches to allow the sleeve to grip to my skin. Am still finding the best solution is to just take leg/liner off and dry them off with paper towel.

[barclay]

I agree about the aluminum - and avoid using/consuming chemicals in general. With the height of the liner, I've found the opposite - at least when I use the silicon sleeve it seems like more sweat get into the liner/distal cap. My impression was that the sweat from the upper leg dripped down as well.

It's loose again as I keep exercising and losing weight! It's a good thing of course, but I am impatient for my weigh to stabilize so I can get the leg tweaked again!!

[ann-]

Dec 30, 2010 23:48:52 GMT -7 barclay said:

I agree about the aluminum - and avoid using/consuming chemicals in general. With the height of the liner, I've found the opposite - at least when I use the silicon sleeve it seems like more sweat get into the liner/distal cap. My impression was that the sweat from the upper leg dripped down as well.

It's loose again as I keep exercising and losing weight! It's a good thing of course, but I am impatient for my weigh to stabilize so I can get the leg tweaked again!!

Yes, agree, thats what I have found with silicon sleeve, the sweat drips down and not sure if that breaks the seal and makes things generally looser. For some reason I have had a problem getting hold of my usual sleeves this year and my old ones are past their best, so don't think that helps either.