Short-term outcome in treatment plantar hyperhidrosis by endoscopic retroperitoneal lumbar sympathectomy

From January 2022 to December 2023, we performed a longitudinal study on 81 cases of plantar hyperhidrosis, including 50 males and 31 females. Male was 1.5 times more than female. Average age of patients was 26.7 years. Chief complaint was excessive sweating of the soles of the feet. Disease progression was 164.6 months. Other symptoms aside from sweaty feet: 58% foot odor and 69.1% shoe slippage. All cases were successfully performed by endoscopic retroperitoneal lumbar sympathectomy with accurate histopathological confirmation of sympathetic nervous tissue. Endoscopic retroperitoneal lumbar sympathectomy was accomplished on both sides within one operation. Operation time: 88.4 ± 25.1 minutes, post-op days: 2.7 ± 0.7 days, hospital days: 5.4 ± 2.2 days, and blood loss volume: 10.6 ± 4.7 mL. There were not operative accidents or complications. In post-operative period, 63% of the patients had mild pain, others (had no pain) were without pain. 100% of case has well healed wound and no infection was recorded. Short term results showed: 98.8% of patient fully recovered, while 1.2% of patient showed significant improvement. The compensatory sweating rate recorded was 12.3% in the post-operative period, 22.2% after 1 month of surgery, 17.3% after 3 months of surgery, and 14.8% after 6 months of surgery.