Is Hair Transplantation Recovery a Painful Process ? : Hair transplantation is a surgical cosmetic procedure, and for many surgical procedures, the ensuing pain is more feared than they surgery itself. It stands to reason that one would wonder what to expect with regard to pain, during the recovery from hair transplant.

Is Hair Transplantation Recovery a Painful Process ?

How Does Hair Transplant Work?

This depends on the method of hair transplant used. The two popular methods today are FUT (follicular unit transplant) and FUE (follicular unit extraction). FUT is the more invasive of the two, as it requires the excision of a strip of flesh from the donor area (the mid-back scalp). FUE removes the donor hairs in thousands of individual grafts, which cuts down on invasiveness, scarring, and the potential for nerve damage; but this procedure is more labor intensive and takes much longer.

What to Expect After Surgery

Hair transplant surgery is not as painful as one might think or expect. Most patients report only mild discomfort and say that, through the whole process, the most painful part is the initial injection of anesthesia. After surgery, a patient can expect the following:

Mild pain/discomfort
Mild swelling/redness
Shedding of hair
Scabbing (which will come off in one week for the donor area and two weeks for the recipient area)
Follow-up visits to the surgeon to make sure all is healing correctly
For FUT patients only, removal of stitches/staples (FUE does not use wound sutures)

The clinic may prescribe mild painkillers and antibiotics to make recovery as unproblematic as possible. Dr U also uses a vibrating tool at site of local anesthesia injections to reduce the perception of pain. Many patients find this to be very effective