Pain Level

[CaptainO]

I just spoke to my cousin who had the procedure done in 2002. He said he remembers it hurt a lot and was in pain for two days. Whats everyones view on the pain?

[chantal]

I had FUT with Dr Rahal in December 2008. The pain level was at its highest on the first couple of nights. Pain medication helped a little...Lack of sleep + lots of swelling (4-5 days) made it pretty uncomfortable for the first 14 days. I wondered what I had gotten into... Then, when the sutures were taken out, things really got better: I could finally sleep through the night. Redness and itchiness lasted around 3 months. That being said, I would do it all over again...(but glad that I don't need to!) I am very pleased with my results. I have no regrets.

 

1925 grafts with Dr Rahal

[rpachigo]

Pain is mild to moderate not terrible. Take your pain pills and it is under control. Sleep elevated, take prednisone if doctor prescribes to minimize swelling. Worst sensation is feeling tightness on scalp at least to me - that went away at about 3 weeks.

[Eman]

Everyone is different and personal pain levels can be attributed to things including session size, physiology, type of procedure, doctor and probably some other things.

 

Personally, I had some pain the first night, but the second day and on had no pain and did not have to take any additional medication. I was also lucky and did not have any swelling.

[CaptainO]

i was referring to the actual cutting of the scalp and during surgury

[Eman]

it doesnt hurt

[hairlust]

I t also depends on your doc. For instance, at my docs office, i had told my doc that i definitely didnt want to endure pain ( which most of it comes from where they are injecting you with local anesthetic) well, by the time i was in the "seat"i was so high on the pills they gave me, the pain was a non issue. As i said, the injections are what really hurts, by the time they are cutting out the strip, you dont feel a thing. Dr Ochs has made sure i was well

prepd for the surgery. Thanks to the pills he gave me I didnt feel a thing.( NOTE that everywhere else ive had surgery, the injections hurt like a mother...)hope this is helpful.Ask your doc for these pills, they raise your pain threshold.

[HairHope]

The needles hurt quite a bit IMO.

[chantal]

The needles!!! ouch!!! But it does not last for very long...No pain whatsoever during surgery..

[aska]

I had no pain at all.

[Take a chance]

The needles are more irritating than really painful. I had no real discomfort. First night I slept with an ice pack wrapped around a towel and rolled up. I was told to take my pain medicine the moment I get back to the hotel.

 

I had dinner took the pain pills along with the anti biotics and even took some valium sleeping tablets. I had a good 7 hour sleep and was fine the next day.

 

I also slept with a head band which caused me no swelling what so ever. Very happy overall and would not hesitate going again.

[Molotov]

I had an HT about 6 weeks ago, I was also worried about the pain. But, I was given valium just before the surgery and the only pain I felt were the needles going in the back and on the top of my head. It wasn't too bad just sharp pinches, I had worse pain with stomach flu, so I wouldn't be too worried. The most pain I had from the HT was the next day and the meds alleviated that significantly. You don't feel anything when they are removing the donor area, just the tearing of the skin which tripped me out.

[NewB2HT]

I've had three HT's done and the pain of injections is horrible. Much worse the 2nd and 3rd time, probably due to scar tissue? The nurse who injected me wasn't very sympathetic.

[Bill - Seemiller]

The pain threshold and tolerance during the initial hair transplant needle injections can vary from person to person. Also, every hair restoration clinic has their own equipment and methodologies of adminstering local anesthetic. This can make an profound difference. No matter your threshold for pain, the local anesthetic injections don't take long and the majority of the day will be pain free.

 

Patients can also experience some discomfort the first few days. The day after the procedure is typically the worst, but as long as you take the pain medication prescribed by your hair loss doctor as directed, discomfort should be minimal.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[thanatopsis_awry]

I agree with Bill that the method of injection can make a profound difference, so if you are particularly wary of "pain", to investigate what the clinic is using so as to gain awareness. I believe a vibrating tool used to administer the anesthetic is a popular method to curb pain.

 

Ultimately, the injections are painful and annoying; my "tolerance" to them improved simply by thinking of how much *more* painful MPB can be, and that in the scope of the complex and momentous procedure we take part in, the 10seconds of pain is rather insignificant. Before you know it, it's over!

 

Also, while not painful, the donor excision can be jarring to people -- so if it seems daunting bring an iPod.

[HTInitiate]

Breathe out forcefully when poked and you will be able to bear it pretty well - something I learned in martial arts years ago.

[Megatron]

I wanted to revive this thread because I'm on Day 1. Any more pain expereinces would be greatly welcomed.

 

As for myself - I expected it to be A LOT worse than it was. Dr. Simmons told me that if I ever felt more than a 3/10 during the procedure to let him know. There were only a few times that happened. The first and worst was the massive headache I experience while removing the donor strip. But, that subsided immediately once they removed the tight tape around my head and replaced it with a gauze bandaid. The only other times my pain threshold exceeded 3/10 was when the local anesthetic began to wear off. But, after a few more shots I was fine again. I didn't find the needles themselves too bad as Dr. Simmons used a vibrator device (get your mind out of the gutter LOL) just below the needle puncture. This greatly helped dissipate the feeling.

 

The Perocet has helped immensely with the pain post procedure. The grafter region feels a bit tight and sticky, but nothing to complain about. The donor scar does get to be about a 4/10 post surgery with a throbbing, aching, tight feel. But the Perocet makes it 90% better.

 

It's Day 1 and so far so good.

[Abby]

1st H/T felt pain 1 out of 10 I'd give it 7, 2nd op id give it 5. good meds , right travel pillow , Icing forehead all help. Just go about you daily business and a couple of days later the discomfort subsides.

[Megatron]

^ holy *** Abby, that's one of the most impressive results I've ever seen considering where you started from and with only ~3,100 grafts! I pray mine looks as succesful.

 

You say the 2nd HT was a 5/10 in pain. What hurt specifically?

[azn_guy]

Haha I can actually comment on this now that I've had one!

 

I had 3000 grafts and if I were to rate the pain from 1 to 10, 1 being minimal

 

I would give the whole procedure a 1

 

It's also recommended to probably take tylenol for the next several days. I can't handle pain and if I can do this, I know the majority of the people reading this can.

 

I think the "worst" pain if any were the lidocaine shots into the head, they felt like pinches at most

[latinlotus]

Pain was not an issue during my HT. The only discomfort was the injection of anesthesia, which i think, lasted about 2 minutes.

[mmhce]

Minimal discomfort. Pain level 1.

 

However, lingering discomfort is extensive. Maybe 6-8 months.

 

Additionally, one may experience neuropathic pain (phantom pain) which can be lancing, for months after surgery, until curing of nerve tissue has reached a substantial level.

[Sparky]

I just had discomfort, wasnt a big deal.

[Anouar]

I had mine done 11 years ago. Taking out the strip didn't hurt but toward the end of the procedure, when they were placing the grafts, they hurt like hell. I actually screamed out obscenities. When I left the office, I had a massive headache and my donor hurt badly. I vowed never to do it again. To this day I still have numbness in the back of my head when I press with my fingers.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

It really does vary from patient to patient, and from procedure to procedure. Currently we are half done with a 2500 "post frontal". This fellow required about twice the usual amount of numbing medicine last year and is on track for the same today. Yesterday's 2800 frontal required a bit less than the usual 25cc's of lidocaine over the course of 8 hours...

 

Always tough to predict who will have more pain, but for MOST patients, the procedure is significantly less uncomfortable than they expected.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA