El periódico "The British Journal Of Cosmetic Dermatology" NOS APOYA

El 21-5-2004 el periodico medico "The Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology" nos Reconoce como grupos de operados arrepentidos y publica nuestras direcciones web:
http://home.swipnet.se/sympatiska/index3.htm
http://www.ets-sideeffects.netfirms.com
http://pub157.ezboard.com/betsandreversals
Publica tambien que los efectos secundarios de la operacion E.T.S. causan en los operados disatisfaccion por los efectos secundarios que llegan a ser dishabilitadores (sudor compensatorio incontrolable, problemas cardiovasculares, baja del ritmo cardiaco)

El articulo esta en ingles, el autor es el famoso por sus articulos medicos Peter D. Drummond :
Endoscopic Thoracic Sympathectomy for Blushing
Peter D. Drummond
School of Psychology, Murdoch University
Perth, Western Australia
Over the past ten years, endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) has been put forward as an effective treatment for facial blushing. In several series of patients, including one published recently in this journal,1 self-reported ratings of blushing decreased substantially after surgery and only a low incidence of adverse outcomes was encountered.2-4 
Although the operation is usually successful in the short-term, side-effects from the procedure may ultimately cause patient dissatisfaction (Reisfeld, http://www.sweaty-palms.com/blushing.html). Unfortunately, the distress experienced by a minority of patients after surgical sympathectomy is given little weight in most of the published literature. Nevertheless, the establishment of support groups and internet forums testify that this distress is real and is not limited to a few isolated cases (e.g., http://home.swipnet.se/sympatiska/index3.htm; http://www.ets-sideeffects.netfirms.com; http://pub157.ezboard.com/betsandreversals). In fact, dissatisfaction with the long-term outcome after ETS has resulted in the development of a nerve graft procedure to reverse the sympathectomy in the hope that this would also eliminate disabling side-effects.5,6 In anticipation of unwanted side-effects, some surgeons prefer to clamp rather than sever the sympathetic chain to facilitate later reversal of the procedure.4 
The most common reason for dissatisfaction with ETS is the development of excessive (“compensatory”) sweating below the level of the sympathectomy.3,7-10 Compensatory sweating develops in up to 90% of patients who undergo surgical sympathectomy of the upper limbs and face, and can be severe and disabling.10 Although not as widely recognized as compensatory sweating, some patients also develop gustatory sweating and a range of other less specific symptoms after ETS.3,4 Bilateral thoracic sympathectomy alters cardiovascular control and inhibits increases in cardiac output during exercise.11,12 Whether this contributes to the circulatory problems and chronic fatigue reported by some sympathectomized patients is unclear. 
From a psychological point of view, it is hard to endorse a destructive surgical procedure to prevent the physiological disturbances associated with anxiety,13 particularly when the procedure carries risks of operative complications and disabling side-effects. In the case of emotional blushing, perceptions about blushing frequently do not match physiological signs. In particular, people who are concerned about blushing consistently report high levels of social distress and overestimate the intensity of blushing when they feel self-conscious or embarrassed.14 That is, the patient’s problem often is fear of blushing rather than blushing itself. This fear develops easily; simply telling people who usually are unconcerned about blushing that they blushed during a social encounter can engender embarrassment and concern about blushing in future social encounters.15 
Drott et al.1 noted that “patients should be encouraged to try non-surgical options as the first line of treatment” for facial blushing (page 11. In my view ETS should not be offered to people concerned about recurrent emotional blushing, because the risks of irreversible operative complications and side-effects outweigh the potential for indirect and possibly transient psychological gains.

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Aqui esta otro articulo suyo mas antiguo del ańo 2000 donde se empieza a apreciar su excepticismo sobre los resultados de la operacion:

Drummond PD. A caution about surgical treatment for facial blushing. British Journal of Dermatology 2000; volume 142: pages 194-195. 
A caution about surgical treatment for facial blushing 
SIR, The fear of blushing can become so problematic that it limits the range of activities in which the blusher is willing to participate, and occasionally develops into full-blown social phobia. Recently endoscopic transthoracic sympathicotomy has been publicized in this Journal(1) and elsewhere(2,3) as a solution for chronic blushing. Short-term results from this procedure were positive,(1-3) and few distressing side-effects were encountered. However, the benefits of surgery must be balanced against the risk of developing post-surgical complications, primarily compensatory sweating and pathological gustatory sweating and flushing. These conditions seem almost to be the rule rather than the exception. For example, gustatory sweating was reported by 47% of 352 patients who were followed up by questionnaire or clinical examination a median period of 16 years after endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis.(4,5) In this series, patient satisfaction declined from 95.5% initially to 66.7% when patients were questioned many years after the operation.(5) In fact, compensatory and gustatory sweating were the most frequently stated reasons for dissatisfaction with the surgical outcome. The incidence of gustatory sweating was lower (12 of 72 patients) in another series,(6) but all patients except one suffered from compensatory sweating elsewhere in the body. Physiological assessment of gustatory sweating would probably have revealed a higher incidence than self-report in this study. Gustatory sweating takes time to develop; a patient who initially is satisfied with the surgical outcome may later regret having the operation when autonomic disturbances appear. 
Pathological gustatory sweating and flushing can develop after injury to preganglionic cervico-thoracic sympathetic fibres, an unavoidable consequence of resecting that part of the sympathetic chain. The mechanism of this abnormal response is uncertain; conceivably, though, regeneration of injured salivatory fibres or collateral sprouting from nearby intact fibres creates aberrant connections between salivatory fibres and denervated vasomotor and sudomotor neurons in the superior cervical ganglion.(7) Commands to salivate would then be translated into commands to sweat and flush in the distribution of sympathetic denervation. Cross-innervation lower down in the stellate ganglion can also produce unusual and potentially distressing autonomic disturbances in the sympathetically-denervated arm (e.g., piloerection while eating).( 
Interrupting the sympathetic pathway to the face destroys the neural circuitry which controls flushing to heat and blushing to emotional events,(9) and may therefore alleviate anxiety about blushing. However, since inappropriate facial sweating and flushing while eating can be just as distressing as anxiety about blushing, most patients who opt for the surgical procedure may be little better off in the long term. At present there is very little evidence to show that those most likely to pursue surgical treatment for blushing actually blush more readily or intensely than other people. In fact, changes in facial blood flow during acute embarrassment seem to be unrelated to ratings of the self-reported frequency of blushing.(10,11) On the other hand, self-consciousness and fear of blushing correlate well with subjective estimates of blushing frequency and intensity.(10,11) In this respect blushing differs from palmar hyperhidrosis, the usual indication for endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomy; sweaty palms are far easier for the patient to detect than blushing, which often is just a worrying suspicion not substantiated by fact. 
If the source of the patient's problem is anxiety about blushing rather than blushing per se, anxiety would be a more appropriate target for treatment than permanently eliminating the normal regulation of facial blood flow and sweating. Cognitive-behavioural and drug therapies help patients with social phobia to control anxiety,12 and should thus be considered the treatments of choice for patients with a fear of blushing. 
Peter D. Drummond, School of Psychology, Murdoch University, 6150 Perth, Western Australia 


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