Brief Answer:
Gustatory hyperhidrosis--- It's usually NO SWEAT!

Detailed Answer:
Good morning. Thank you for your question and I hope this answers your question.

The condition of sweating when eating either spicy foods or ANY type of food in some individuals is referred to as gustatory hyperhidrosis. It is usually considered a normal variant in any individual as a reaction to extremely hot or spicy foods and is simply a reaction of nerves located in the face or facial structures such as salivary glands, etc. that cause the face to sweat. I say that it is considered normal if it's something that you've always had happen to you the majority of your life. It can also happen later in life and doesn't necessarily represent any major problems but simply an aging reaction by the nerves (again located in the face) when responding to things that are hot or spicy. Perhaps, your taste in hot and spicy has really become HOT AND SPICY!!

However, in your case, since this phenomenon is only occurring on ONE side of the face, my concern would be that on the same side that this occurs there is something going on which is different from the other side in terms of the nerves that mediate this type of reaction. It is often the case when we see this in a UNILATERAL form (one side only) that something has happened as in a trauma, surgical procedure, damage to the parotid or salivary glands, recent dental procedure that may have accidentally damaged nerves in that area, etc.

Therefore, I would recommend you get your doctor to do a careful examination of the side of the face affected and especially the LEFT PAROTID GLAND region looking for evidence of abnormalities of any sort. If they can't find anything then, perhaps a visit to an ENT doctor would be a better bet since they are accustomed to this type of complication following surgeries that they perform on parotid glands and other facial structures and may be able to better locate a problem if in fact there is one. If ENT cannot find anything out in the facial area then, the next place to look would be with a neurologist so they can do a comprehensive CRANIAL NERVE examination looking for focalities of the nerves generally involved in this type of reaction but from where the nerve originate which would be in the brain or brainstem region. Other conditions and ailments such as Parkinson's disease, cluster headaches, diabetes (new onset or under poor control), a bout of shingles or Herpes Zoster which is acute or resolving can also cause this dysfunction to occur so those things should be considered as well.

If nothing is found after that sort of complete and meticulous search then, you are in the few people who experience this phenomenon of gustatory hyperhidrosis but only on one side of the face. You may try just keeping track of exactly which sorts of foods cause this to take place and simply reduce their intake or eliminate them and see if anything else were to happen down the road which could signal something structurally wrong that is progressing then, an additional search at that time may turn something up.

I hope this addresses your concerns and that you'll keep me in mind for future questions regarding these or other neurological/medical issues. Feel free to upload more specific information regarding lab tests and diagnostic studies if done and I'll be happy to look at them in the context of your question.

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Cheers!

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