I'm curious to know what science has to say about the biochemical processes of tap water iontophoresis. I was trying to find some insights from the mechanism of action to answer things like:
- Why does it block sweat glands?
- How does it affect other types of glands/cells in the (epi-) dermis, i.e., what are the side effects?
- What are the processes that trigger reddening of the skin and tingling/pain in the first place? For instance, is this the result of direct stimulation of e.g. TRPV1 or rather the result of destroyed cells triggering an immune response.
Searching for a good resource of the science behind iontophoresis on Google/PubMed seems to be difficult because information is commonly targeted for iontophoresis end-users and publications often focus on the drug administration aspect.
Side-note: personal iontophoresis fun fact
I was using iontophoresis on my hands with room-temperature water on one hand, and fridge-temperature water on the other hand. After 4 weeks of daily application, I noticed a significant difference between the two hands: In my case, cold-water iontophoresis seems to be much more efficient in blocking sweat glands. I couldn't find this effect in literature, but I'm wondering if it could be explained from the underlying biochemical processes.