The authors present 2 cases of far-lateral lumbar disc herniations treated surgically via an extreme-lateral transpsoas approach. The procedure was performed using the MaXcess minimally invasive retractor system to access and successfully remove the disc fragments without complication. To the authors' knowledge, these are the first reported cases of using a minimally invasive retroperitoneal approach for the treatment of far-lateral disc herniations. (DOI: 10.3171/2009.10.SPINE08932)