Skin biopsy for small fiber neuropathy
 

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to neurotalk and am trying to learn more about peripheral neuropathy and small fiber neuropathy. (I apologize in advance if I don't get all the terminology right. I'm still trying to learn it all).

Has anyone else had a skin biopsy done to assess for a peripheral neuropathy? If so, did anyone have normal nerve cell counts but mildly abnormal sweat gland counts?

My doctor thinks that this could be indicative of small fiber neuropathy, but he is still a little baffled by it since all of my blood tests came back normal and the never cell counts came back normal. Has anyone else experienced this on their skin biopsy? I've tried researching this on my own, but unfortunately haven't feel like I keep hitting roadblocks cause I'm not sure what I'm looking for. Any info would be so helpful.

Hi batchkenn

Yes I’ve had a skin punch done to search for small fiber neuropathy- mine also came back normal but neurologist did not mention anything abnormal with the sweat gland count— she did tell me though that u can still have sfn even with a normal result- as the patch they cut the skin from could just not be as damaged as much if that makes sense— I dont think that helps u all that much - just relaying what my doc told me— it could still be sfn— but if it’s negative it could also be something else (have u gotten the “-anxiety” diagnosis yet?)—so keep looking for answers— let us know.

Thanks Joe for sharing your experience with it. The first neuro I went to said it was just anxiety and to do stress management. The second neuro was the one who suggested SFN and requested a skin biopsy.

At this point, my symptoms are mild (mainly itching in my legs and arms, the random cold/numb spot) however I've found these are normally triggered or aggravated by stress, so I've tried different strategies to manage that. I also have had several blood tests done and nothing has come back to suggest any other cause.