Kids tend to sweat, a lot. And Brian Adamcik was a particularly active East Texas farmboy, so he thought nothing untoward was happening when he'd sweat buckets doing work or playing with friends.

What gave him pause, though, were the times his underarms would be soaked just chilling out in a chilly room. Later, with the dawning of adult self-consciousness, Adamcik would find himself changing sweat-stained shirts several times a day and taking way too many showers.

It was more of an annoyance than an embarrassment back in the 1980s, when he was in the military and wanted to look – in the parlance of antiperspirant ads – calm, cool and collected.

"I didn't even know who to talk to about it – a doctor, a priest, my wife," Adamcik, 42, recalls. "I thought, maybe I just sweat more than everybody else and I've got to deal with it. I mean, it could be worse, right? Some people have cancer or chronic diseases. Sweating was what I had."

Yet, it still bothered the El Dorado Hills resident enough that he went on the Internet to learn more about his excessive sweating.

The first thing he learned was that the condition has a name: hyperhidrosis. He also found out that, according to federal figures, 7.8 million Americans (3 percent of the population) report producing far more sweat than is needed to regular body temperature.

Such knowledge led Adamcik down a medical path through primary-care physicians and dermatologists and such treatments as prescription-strength antiperspirants (didn't work and gave him rashes) and wearing electric pads (didn't work and was painful).

It wasn't until last year when Adamcik tried botox – yes, the same wrinkle reducing botulism cosmetic facial procedure – that his condition dried up. Botox has received FDA approval to alleviate the symptoms of hyperhydrosis, though the procedure is pricy (about $1,500 for a series of injections lasting six months) and is not covered by some insurance companies.

"For the first time in my life, it all stopped, like the spigot was turned off," Adamcik says.

One problem: The treatment – 20 injections into the sweat glands under each arm – is temporary.

"I started talking to my wife," Adamcik says, "I said, you know, do I really want to get 40 injections into my underarms every six months? Do I see myself as a feeble old man doing this every six months? I mean, it is kind of barbaric, all those injections and stuff."

Fortunately for Adamcik, his dermatologist, Dr. Timothy Rosio of El Dorado Hills and Auburn, had recently become one of the first physicians in the U.S. trained to use lasers to destroy many of the overactive sweat glands in the underarm area.

The laser originally was designed as a noninvasive form of liposuction treatment to zap fat cells, but Rosio's Brazilian colleague, Dr. Alberto Goldman, had done a pilot study that showed the laser procedure works for at least five years for nearly all patients.

Though not approved by the FDA, which means that insurance companies won't cover the $2,500-to-$2,900 cost, Adamcik decided to try the procedure under local anesthetic.

"When Dr. Rosio said the phrase 'chance of a permanent solution,' I perked up immediately," Adamcik says.

That was six months ago.

"It's great, because now I sweat just like a normal person would," he says. "With botox, you don't sweat at all, and that doesn't seem natural. I'm OK with normal underarm sweat, because I'm (sweating) normally everywhere else. That's all I ever wanted."

Rosio, who had performed the surgery on a handful of patients in the past year, says he's had success using so-called "No Sweat Smart Lipo" treatment. He cautions, however, that the procedure is only to treat underarm sweat, not other common excessive sweating areas (hands and feet).

"The skin of the hands and feet are sort of tacked down," Rosio says. "There's not a good subcutaneous layer underneath to pass (the laser) through."

Rosio says the 1-millimeter laser fiber emits energy that essentially destroys the sweat glands. He says the fiber passes through a tiny opening and passes through the glands, making an "ultra-fine micro grid under the skin." According to the International Hyperhidrosis Society, side effects so far have proven minimal, the most pronounced being small skin blistering or the chance of infection.

"We have some glands in the body that are not replaced, at least not frequently," he says. "They are permanent fixtures. And if you knock (those glands) out, they do not come back. My patients so far say they're getting long lasting improvement."

That's what 21-year-old patient Teresa Crews was hoping for as she recently awaited laser surgery after years of embarrassment. She was a cheerleader and dancer in high school and has aspirations of trying out for the Sacramento Kings dance squad.

She wanted her tryout to go well, to be, essentially, no sweat.

"It really can keep you from pursuing certain things," Crews says. "If you are thinking about it when you're performing in front of a whole bunch of people and if the wardrobe is all sweaty, that's such an embarrassing thing. It's just not something a stick of deodorant can cover up."

Call The Bee's Sam McManis, (916) 321-1145.