I analyzed iontophoresis posts/comments in this sub (2024–2026) — useful patterns, but we need way better data
TL;DR
- I scanned a lot of iontophoresis posts/comments here and extracted 106 usable regimen records.
- The biggest pattern was still daily / every-other-day, around 20 min, often around 15 mA.
- But the data quality is honestly not great (lots of missing fields), so this is directional, not gospel.
- We should get more scientific as a community: structured logging + required fields.
- That’s one reason I made iontolog.com — it helps keep tracking structured.
- If you want to help, please fill this short form (2–3 min): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg5LXxwFSJx-TNtCopDv-Hr6Zo1y3QXHDkpQmC2xFBEGIMXg/viewform.
Long-read warning: yeah, this post is long as hell. If you want details + tables + next steps, keep reading.
I went through iontophoresis reports from this subreddit to see what actually repeats when people say treatment is working.
I also built iontolog.com for treatment tracking. My old post about it is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hyperhidrosis/comments/1r0ddze/my_iontophoresis_app_im_using_it_for_3_years/
What I looked at
- Date window: Jan 1, 2024 → Feb 8, 2026
- Scanned: 610 posts + 1011 comments
- Final usable records after filtering: 106
- Kept entries with at least 2 of:
frequency,duration,amperage
Data Overview
| metric | value |
|---|---|
| total_records | 106 |
| has_frequency | 79 |
| has_duration | 83 |
| has_amperage | 81 |
| missing_frequency_pct | 25.47 |
| missing_duration_pct | 21.7 |
| missing_amperage_pct | 23.58 |
Source Mix
| source_type | count |
|---|---|
| comment | 56 |
| post | 50 |
Confidence Tags
| confidence | count |
|---|---|
| medium | 75 |
| high | 31 |
Pattern 1: Frequency distribution
| frequency | count |
|---|---|
| daily | 30 |
| unknown | 27 |
| every_other_day | 25 |
| 1_per_week | 10 |
| 2_per_week | 6 |
| 5_per_week | 4 |
| 4_per_week | 3 |
| 3_per_week | 1 |
Quick read:
dailyandevery_other_daydominate build-up style behavior.- Weekly buckets show up too, mostly maintenance context.
Pattern 2: Body area distribution
| body_area | count |
|---|---|
| feet+hands | 46 |
| hands | 32 |
| feet+hands+underarms | 13 |
| unknown | 11 |
| feet | 3 |
| feet+underarms | 1 |
Quick read:
- Most usable records are hands+feet.
- Underarm-only data is still thin.
Body Area x Frequency Pivot
| body_area | 1_per_week | 2_per_week | 3_per_week | 4_per_week | 5_per_week | daily | every_other_day | unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| feet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| feet+hands | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 16 | 12 |
| feet+hands+underarms | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| feet+underarms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| hands | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 10 |
| unknown | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
Extra charts
So what can we actually conclude?
Some direction, yes. Hard truth, no.
This is useful for rough patterns, but not clean enough to treat as hard evidence. Too much variation + too many missing core fields.
So if we want real answers (what works best by body area, dose, schedule), we need better inputs.
What I want to do next (and why I built iontolog)
I want us to get more scientific as a community:
- use structured logs (instead of random free-text posts)
- require key fields (frequency, mA, duration, body area, phase)
- track outcomes over time consistently
I built iontolog.com for exactly this reason.
The community Google Form is live with required key fields:
If enough people fill it, I’ll post follow-up analysis updates in the same transparent format (tables + charts + assumptions).
If you made it this far, thanks for reading this monster post.
And seriously, if you can spare 2–3 minutes, please fill the form so the next analysis is actually stronger: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg5LXxwFSJx-TNtCopDv-Hr6Zo1y3QXHDkpQmC2xFBEGIMXg/viewform. The survey is anonymous: it does not collect email addresses and does not require sign-in.
Posted Feb 16, 2026, 10:10 PM UTC