Is A Hair Transplant Painful?

You should not feel pain during your hair transplant after your scalp has been numbed using local anaesthesia. At The Treatment Rooms London we also provide light sedation for extra comfort. This means an FUT or an FUE hair transplant is a comfortable process for most patients, a procedure which takes between 6-8 hours to complete. Despite most patients being very anxious about potential pain, here at The Treatment Rooms London, we make every effort to ensure they are kept as comfortable as possible. In this blog you can find out more about whether having a hair transplant is painful.

Hair Transplant Pain

In the scalp there are many nerves so these must be anaesthetised (blocked from working) so that when our Surgeons perform hair transplant surgery, their patient does not feel any pain whatsoever. Our Surgeons perform this using different techniques:

1. Using local anaesthetic injections
2. Giving pain relieving medications
3. Giving light sedation so the patient feels sleepy, comfortable and relaxed during the procedure

Local Anaesthesia Injections

The main technique your Surgeon will use to numb your scalp are local anaesthesia injections. These are very small injections into the areas your surgeon will take hair out and implant hairs into. The injections are performed using a very fine needle, (almost the width of a human hair).

Even though the needle is very small, our Surgeons go the extra mile. They use a TENS device on your skin to distract your brain from receiving all the pain signals. This means that any soreness from the initial numbing injections is significantly reduced. After this stage is finished, your entire scalp will be numb and you shouldn’t feel pain during the procedure.

Giving Pain Relieving Medications

In addition to local anaesthetic, our Surgeons will also provide you with some pain- relieving medications. These help to reduce any discomfort throughout the procedure and help to relax you even further!

Giving light sedation ensure patients feel comfortable and relaxed

Being stressed increases your brain’s perception of pain. So keeping every patient nice and relaxed is one of our main priorities. Our custom built hair transplant clinic is designed to keep every patient relaxed. We use different techniques such as:

• Giving a tablet that makes you feel sleepy and relaxed
• Music
• Temperature Control

This means that whilst patients are undergoing surgery, they often feel so comfortable they fall asleep. If you wanted to find out more about having a hair transplant at The Treatment Rooms London- watch the video below!

Pain & Comfort During Hair Transplantation

During the hair transplant you should not feel pain following your initial local anaesthetic injections. Once the procedure starts you will feel the hair transplant surgeons lightly touching your scalp. Together with calming music you may find you fall asleep.

If you stay awake during the procedure you are kept as comfortable as possible with your choice of entertainment. This includes music, podcasts, TV, films and more.

By choosing to have your hair transplant at The Treatment Rooms London you can expect the highest attention when it comes to your comfort. We take pride in making sure the process is as relaxing as possible. One of our patients has even described having surgery at The Treatment Rooms London as:

“It’s like sitting in a First Class plane seat and having a hair transplant“

Pain After FUE Hair Transplantation

After your hair transplant you will be given a recovery pack and instructions. Any pain you may feel will be easily managed with simple pain killers such as:

• Paracetamol
• Ibuprofen

After surgery most patients are pain-free and don’t require any further medications.

Our Surgeons will keep in contact with you regularly following your surgery. This means your recovery should go to plan and if needed, you will have access to our specialist advice with our dedicated caretaker service.

Pain After FUT Hair Transplantation

After your FUT hair transplant you may feel some pain in your donor site. This is common and tends to be worst in the first 2 weeks post procedure. At The Treatment Rooms London we will provide you with codeine based medication to help alleviate this pain.

Will pain affect my transplant?

Pain should not affect your hair transplant. If you have pain lasting longer than 28 days you should contact your surgeon at your hair transplant clinic who will want to assess you further.

If you are interested in having a hair transplant at The Treatment Rooms London – find out more and book your consultation today.

References

1) Y Kim, Y Na and J Park, 2019. Comparison of postoperative pain according to the harvesting method used in hair restorative surgery, Arch Plast Surg 46 (3): 231

2) BP Nusbaum, 2004. Techniques to reduce pain associated with hair transplantation: optimising anethesia and analgesia. Am J Clin Dermatol 5(1):9-15

3) Teoli and An, 2019. Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)