Polarity change - how to? And when?

How often should you do a polarity change?

Iontophoresis - does the polarity change have any advantages? Changing the polarity is often recommended for iontophoresis. But this does not always make sense! Therefore, you might want to question the sense of it first. The Hidrex ConnectION offers such a polarity change optionally. Some iontophoresis devices are built in such a way that you can neither switch it on nor off. In order to get an even result with iontophoresis, you can change the polarity in the following case: - If both hands, feet or armpits sweat exactly the same and both need to get exactly the same amount of current or dose. In this case, we recommend changing the polarity every week, no matter if you treat 1x or 5x a week. Tip for the initial therapy: However, if you want to get the right-hand dry faster (for the purpose of shaking hands), then simply treat the right hand always with the + pole only, until the sweating stops, then change the poles. It is not necessary to change poles at every therapy session. There are many recommendations on the internet that say that you should change poles halfway through each session! In our opinion, it is not necessary to give great importance to this recommendation. It only prolongs the treatment time. Iontophoresis devices with automatic polarity change will slowly lower the current in the middle of the therapy and then raise it again. There are even iontophoresis devices which make a current change every few minutes! In this time, only half of the previously set current is available. With the Hidrex ConnectION the process takes about one minute. One minute in which only about half of the normal treatment current flows due to up and down. Therefore, the full dose cannot be applied, as it would be if the treatment was continuous. This wasted time can be saved by changing the cables on the device every week. Of course, leave the electrodes in the same tubs.

In the following cases, it is not necessary to change the polarity:

- If you treat hands and feet with similar voltages, then you can treat hands and feet at the same time with our Idromed & Hidrex devices, putting the + pole on the feet (the + pole has a slightly stronger effect).

- One hand, foot or armpit sweats more? Then the +Pol should be placed on the part of the body that sweats more. Say, if the left armpit sweats more than the right armpit, then place the +Pol on the left armpit.

- One hand is more sensitive than the other, and you would have to reduce the current for a change of polarity, then it is usually better to leave it like this, otherwise the other hand gets too little dose compared to the maximum possible.

If then the other hand should sweat more, simply treat them separately.

Both the DC and PC iontophoresis devices produce direct current, in the PC variant this galvanic direct current is chopped up, a pulsed current is produced. This has nothing to do with a polarity change. Here, the polarity is not changed, but the current is switched ON and OFF!

Why an automatic polarity change usually makes no sense for your iontophoresis therapy

Iontophoresis and automatic polarity changes

There are cases when an automatic polarity change during a therapy session with iontophoresis will cause longer treatment times, or in the worst case, completely stop the success of the therapy.

It's actually quite simple - here are three cases in which you definitely do NOT want to switch poles during treatment:

1) If there is a case of palmar hyperhidrosis, and you want to treat your hands. Most users would want to demonstrate at least a dry hand as soon as possible (for handshake, for example). The fastest way to achieve this is: Always treat the right hand with the positive electrode until the desired level of dryness is achieved. After that, you can change the poles for the hands as it feels appropriate for you.

2) If you sweat irregularly and more sweat forms on one hand than the other. You will usually need a higher amperage for that hand to achieve the desired level of dryness. Automatic pole changing would not be of any help in this case and the best course of action, as before, is to simply connect the positive pole to the basin where the sweating hand that requires a higher amperage is being treated.

3) If you want to treat hands and feet simultaneously. In this case, the normal procedure is to treat the feet with the stronger positive pole and the hands with the other electrode.

The skin on the feet is typically much thicker than that on the hands, and you simply require a higher current intensity on the feet for the therapy to be successful. In this case, if you change the poles, you may end up with overtherapy. Furthermore, the current flow may also become too weak to sufficiently treat the feet, in terms of current strength. If this happens, you can of course resort to separate treatment of hands and feet, but this will then again increase the treatment time.

The negative effects of the automatic polarity change:

Are you one of those people who, in an individual therapy during which you are supposed to listen to your body, are sceptical about therapy devices that virtually tell you how to do something without regard to the needs that are actually present?

Such a device could be one that has an automatic pole change built in without the possibility of shutting it off.

1) In the case that one side needs less power than the other, an automatic pole change can lead to overtherapy.

Iontophoresis overtherapy caused by an excessive treatment duration can cause irritated and too dry, cracked skin, even in large skin areas.

If a large area of skin on hands or feet is damaged, it makes almost no sense to use Vaseline and continue the therapy, here in most cases it is necessary to wait until the skin irritation has subsided.

This is the real benefit of consistent poles during treatment: you can treat hands and feet at the appropriate level, instead of letting an iontophoresis device decide what you need, and for how long.

2) Usually you have slightly different sensitivities on both sides, which means that when the pole changes, you may have too much or too little current on one side. Then one must regulate again at the current, which proves with some devices as difficult or better said annoying, if one treats only the hands or hands and feet at the same time. Keyword "immersion detection iontophoresis device".

The only case where an automatic pole change function really makes sense, in our opinion, is this one:

You are treating only one area (feet, hands, armpits) at a time - and both sides (left/right hand, armpit or foot) are sweating equally and need exactly the same amount of current. Then, and only then, it makes sense to use this function.

In all other cases, let's estimate well over 95%, it will only prolong the treatment time - albeit minimally - or lead to less than optimal results, in the worst case to undesirable effects.

What to do if the polarity change can't be switched off?

A typical example: one body part, e.g. one of the hands, sweats more and therefore needs more treatment time with the positive pole. The two options would be to interrupt the treatment right before the polarity change, or to swap the iontophoresis poles in the middle of the change. As long as the iontophoresis device changes the polarity halfway through the therapy session, these options are somewhat practicable. However, this procedure becomes very silly indeed if the device changes the polarity every few minutes!

In such a case, the hand that requires more current can be treated separately with iontophoresis.

Alternatively, you can use one or both feet as a counter-pole.

TIP for the iontophoresis polarity change:

The polarity can be changed by

switching the position of the cables on the iontophoresis unit
switching the cables on the electrodes
simply exchanging the electrodes in the tubs
automatically changing the polarity during treatment (switchable on/off with the Hidrex ConnectION)