If you’re considering hair transplant surgery, one of the key reasons for reservation may be the thought of it being painful. Naturally this question is a difficult one to answer. However, at YourHair Doc, we use our years of expertise in this field to ensure your treatment is as pain free as possible. Does hair transplant surgery hurt? It’s often down to the individual pain threshold, but we’re here to answer your questions.
Does Hair Transplant Surgery Hurt?
You’ll be briefed on what to expect on your treatment day during your consultation with Dr. Somji, but it is understandable to be apprehensive of the surgical procedure. To understand where there may be a little discomfort during a procedure, we need to look at the two main types of hair transplant surgeries, FUT and FUE.
FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) or ‘STRIP’ consists of the removal of healthy hair follicles in small strips from a donor area. The hair follicles are then separated out and inserted in to the area to be treated. As a strip of healthy hair is taken, the procedure is slightly more invasive, therefore can offer longer recovery and healing times. There may also be minor scarring in the donor site.
With FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) a small number of hair follicles are removed at a time and then transplanted to the area in need. This procedure, though more laborious leaves little to no scarring and a much faster healing time of 3 to 7 days.
Prior to both procedures, a local anaesthetic will be administered and this can be slightly uncomfortable. However, this greatly minimizes any discomfort during the treatment.
Hair transplantation is a surgical procedure and surgeon Dr. Munir Somji will always advise that there may be some level of discomfort with any surgical intervention, whether this be as a local anaesthetic is administered or whether there is slight discomfort during the procedure as of course, the patient is fully awake during the process and may feel some pulling or tugging, but this is not painful. The beauty of local anaesthetic is that the discomfort is indeed minimal, and it doesn’t carry any of the potential risks of a general anaesthetic.
Post-Hair Transplant Surgery
Whilst FUE and FUT shouldn’t cause any pain during the procedure, the areas of the scalp that have been treated are likely to be tender after the surgery has been completed. This is because the various tissues have been subjected to varying levels of trauma, which will inevitably cause some redness and swelling in the days following treatment. This can easily be managed with mild pain killers, taken for a few days after treatment.
With any surgical procedure, there will be some level of discomfort and it is natural to be concerned or nervous. However, in your pre-treatment consultation here at YourHairDoc we will ensure that you have all the necessary information to be fully prepared for your treatment, so that it becomes the most comfortable experience as possible for you, both physically and emotionally. Does hair transplant surgery hurt? It can do, but we want to minimise the pain, to give you the best experience possible.
If you’re unhappy at facing hair loss, contact us now to book a consultation with Dr. Somji, to discuss your options. We look forward to hearing from you.
