Is there pain after FUE?

[custar]

How bad is the pain after fue? the donor and recioient? Is it immediately after op or does it take a few days to feel it?

 

I'm wondering if pain meds wont be necessary and I can just tough the pain out

[Melvin- Admin]

There is pain, my last surgery I had pain in the donor area for over a week, pain meds will be necessary for the first 2-3 days after that you could tough it out depending on your pain tolerance, but FUE is not a painless procedure or scarless as its many times advertised.

[matt3480]

I think it depends on so many factors.....including the size of surgery. My first one was 2,000 grafts and it just wasn't bad, at all. The donor felt like a sun burn....nothing more. Pain pills easily took care of the issue....and I bet Advil would have worked as good.

 

I just had a 1,300 again on Tuesday and I've literally taken 2 pain pills...I feel 100%.

[Mick50]

Personally I had no pain whatsoever post op ,the injections hurt a bit but only the first 3 or 4, had a little itchiness in the donor after a week or so but no pain, a few pimples which is normal, I had 4200 grafts in one sitting lasted about 10 hours that was a bit of a pain, but most people don't have that many grafts done

in one go, to be honest the waiting game is the hardest thing about having a hair transplant but of course everyone is different, the nurses who injected me said some guys have actually cried because they found the pain so bad, so I guess that just illustrates we all have different pain thresholds, but personally in my opinion the average guy will find it no real problem

[Pete-from-Farjo]

If the procedure is done by a competent surgeon, you'll be surprised how little pain there is post op. Others who see you soon after - friends, family etc, will take one look at you and assume you must be in agony. But in reality standard pain killers will be all you need. And maybe not even those. I can tell you I'd swap this toothache I've currently got for a couple thousand holes in my head every day of the week:D

[Bill - Seemiller]

You will most likely experience some discomfort/mild pain the first few days after surgery whether it's strip or FUE. Surgery is still surgery and healing time is required.

 

Your doctor should prescribe you with medicine to take, thus, I recommend that you take it as prescribed to minimize any discomfort.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Petchski]

I've still got pain in the donor (mild ache) on day 7, although i never took any pain meds post op, but it's still there at the back, skin feels quite tight, and someone said like sunburn, that sums it up pretty good.

[rabrr]

First 4 days its still numb so the pain for me felt like a 2/10

 

I'm at the 5th day and I can feel it much more like a 3-4/10 and moreso when I lie on a pillow 5-6/10, I haven't used any pain killers yet

 

Thats the donor area I'm talking about, the recipient area has been pain free 0/10

[Petchski]

Yeah i'm the same, recipient is fine, but the donor pain is worse at night.I felt next to pain free until day 5, then the pain seemed to be turned up a notch or two, which concerned me and made it difficult to sleep.

 

I emailed my doctor and he has told me that for a rare few, maybe 10% of patients they get donor pain, increased sensitivity as he put it, anywhere from day 4/5 which becomes uncomfortable, especially at night.

 

He recommeded paracetamol and/or ibuprofen at night, and that the pain goes away by day 9/10.

[gillenator]

Pain in the donor region post-op is almost always more acute than the recipient area. And I agree that it depends on the size of the procedure and also where the extractions are done. There are an endless amount of nerves and blood vessels in the scalp and many get severed during the extraction process. Both do eventually heal and grow again but as always, it takes time.

 

Everyone has a varying threshold for pain and so it's hard to predict or anticipate how we might respond to the endless amount of extractions and recipient incisions. There is a fair amount of post-op swelling and inflammation which also varies yet this can compound the discomfort especially in the next week or so following the procedure.

 

In may last FUHT procedure, my scalp was a tad bit tight so my surgeon elected to close me with staples which I will never do again. Very painful and then a few got buried beneath the epidermis and had to be literally dug out later.

 

I have read that roughly 65% of men have a phobia related to needles and injections...:confused:

[Petchski]

Damn, buried in the scalp, never heard of that before, must of been painful. I got the staples too in my first transplant, couldn't wait to get them taken out. I don't remember so well, as my first HT was in 2009, but it was uncomfortable to have them in my head more than painful, as my donor then was numb for two weeks after.

 

My donor pain has eased a little from yesterday, and i took the iboufuren last night which took about 80% of the pain away, don't think i'll need them again after tonight, then i can get on with worrying about how the transplant will work out.

 

I had 2222 grafts, but the doc took them all above the scar as i had a lot of three haired grafts and that where my donor was most dense.

 

I'm relieved, and want to thank you for your posts Gill, as even on old threads going back years, there you are dishing out some helpful advice.

[gillenator]

Thanks for the kind words my good friend.

 

I was left with a scar about the size of a dime where the staple was dug out and removed. My primary doctor was the one who found it and removed it without any anesthesia. That was no fun at all...very painful...:confused: