Iontophoresis Electrical Current Treatment Therapy Method

Iontophoresis is a treatment therapy which passes electrical current into your skin. It has a variety of uses, such as using electric current to drive drugs across the skin barrier and into your tissue.

The basics of this treatment method is putting the area to be treated in water and then a gentle electrical current is passed through the water. This current is gradually increased until you feel a slight tingling sensation.

Iontophoresis has been successfully used for years to treat hyperhidrosis. It’s believed that this electrical current treatment method treats sweating by turning off a particular sweat gland. Iontophoresis somehow plugs your sweat gland, thus temporarily preventing it from sweating.

And iontophoresis has been used to assist with sweaty, smelly feet as well.

How the iontophoretic transdermal drug delivery system works is by using an electric current to ionize the drug molecule and then propel them through the skin. Examples of drugs delivered via this method include:

  • lidocaine ~ for pain management
  • pilocarpine ~ stimulates sweating for sweat chloride test for diagnosing cystic fibrosis
  • corticosteroid ~ delivers directly over the inflamed bursa or tendon for bursitis & tendinitis

Iontophoresis can also be used to draw molecules out through your skin, such as glucose.

Side effects of the iontophoresis therapy method are rare, but may involve:

Iontophoresis is also used in the cosmetic world, claiming to:

Galvanic current is used to increase product permeation into your lower levels of skin, among offering other skin benefits.

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