Donor pain continues over 2 years after FUE

[london81]

Hi guys,

 

I've posted before about this and was hoping it would get better but it hasn't.

 

I had FUE in August 2014 and ever since I've had very bad pain in the donor area. It's been over 2 years and I've been in pain since the procedure. ONLY in the donor area.

 

Basically, it's very very sore, like I've had recent trauma to the scalp, burning, electric shock, itching, sore, throbbing pains lots of spot break outs, sore when I press my hand on it, like it's bruised and damaged. it's just horrendous to be honest. Just in the donor area, back and sides. No pain anywhere else.

 

I went back to Dr Feriduni a year after the procedure and he said the donor looked fine and that he and other surgeons he knows had never heard of this before. He said he would be in touch if he heard of any possible treatment for the pain but I heard nothing again. If he was in the U.K where I live of course I would keep going back until I found out the cause of this and to get treatment as I believe the clinics have a duty of care to patients they treat. As it is in Belgium I cannot do this. I have been to my GP a lot and hopefully they will refer to me a specialist at some point as the pain is awful.

 

As I said it's only in the donor area. I believe damage was done during extractions which the nurses performed. I did feel at the time this was very fast and quite aggressive at times. I wasn't told that permant damage and long term ( years of pain, possibly permanant ) could accur after this procedure. As I type this it feels like the back of my head is on fire. Like it's badly sunburnt, that kind of pain. Only in the areas where the extractions were taken. The recipient area is fine.

 

I'm just updating really as I've had a few kind messages asking how the pain was.

 

All I can do now is try and get my GP to refer me somewhere. She says it's the surgeons responsibility but being in Belgium that's difficult.

 

I'm not sure even where she will refer me to?! I'm guessing it will be a pain management clinic or something.

 

It's very depressing to be like this. I've tried everything over these last few years and nothing works so far.

 

Any suggestions from surgeons on where I can go from here for help would be much appreciated. Possible causes and treatments too? I'm not sure what kind of specialist deals with this? I'm guessing it's nerve damage. I thought and hoped it would go but it's been over 2 years now and it's not letting up.

 

If any surgeons in the U.K. can help please do let me know.

 

Thanks and hope everyone is well.

Edited November 21, 2016 by london81

[Sam23]

I know that feeling and i m sufferring from the same but in receipient area

 

Here most of the people have only succesfull surgeries without any side effect, so i doubt you will find an answer

 

If it persists, I think you should use the following meds but discuss it with a dermatolgist first

 

- GUPISON for 15 days

- Neurorubine for a month

 

And try to make the area always moisturize by alo vera or honey and avoid sun

 

i hope it will help you when you using them

[london81]

Thanks Sam, I will look into this. I did see a dermatologist but he wasn't that familiar with hair transplants and he looked at my scalp with his hands and said he couldn't see anything on the surface so I think it's nerve damage all around the donor area, sides and back. I do get lots of pimples still, not sure if these are ingrowing hairs also. It sometimes burns so much I sit here with ice on the donor. I'm surprised Dr Feriduni said he and all the other surgeons he knows have NEVER heard of this before... He said he posted on a group whatsapp he has with a few other surgeons about it and he said they all said none of them had ever heard of this problem.

[SupaGroover]

Sorry to hear you are in pain. I know you have made several threads in relation to this. Have you ever considered psychological help? If the doctors have never heard of any other FUE patients experiencing your type of symptoms, maybe some of it has been brought on by your mental state. If FUE had any negative impacts on your overall health these boards would be flooded with patients giving out about x,y,z. There aren't any and the reason is because FUE is really nothing major at all. I went to the same doc as you and can literally say without question that i only had a small(manageable) bit of pain after the surgery. It was a piece of cake to be fair.

[london81]

SupaGroover, this is NOT psychological. I've made several posts because I've been in pain. I had no pain before the procedure and I only have pain in the donor area. It may have been a piece of cake for you but that doesn't mean to say things can't go seriously wrong for other people however rare. I know my own body and scalp and I know it's from the FUE.

[Sam23]

i post the same issue here many times and also they consider me crazy with psycological things

 

This is real and Fue or FUT are surgeries and nobody can control the side effects,

 

I m one of the victims of FUE markting or the whole hair transplant thing, becuase of this procedure i still cannot go outdoor without feeling pain even i did the procedure 16 months ago

 

It is simple, everyone cares about hair and nobody cares about the skin, like it is a byproduct and no problem if you loss it,

99% of the hair transplant surgeons do not care about the skin, they just tell you about the hair and give u guarantee only for the hair and if you had any issue in the skin they will tell we are not specialized in skin and you should see a dermatologist for that

 

There is no surgeon who do kind of test on the skin to see if it can handle the surgery or not, they only check the hair in donor area, ask for blood test and then start work

 

No enough studies about the skin diseases that can happen after hair transplant and even they will not mention that as side effects, ( if i read before the surgery that a hair transplant might trigger or cause some serious diseases in the skin, i will never do it )

 

When you read first time about hair transplant, you notice all the side effects are temp and after 1 year people are smiling and happy, so you assume no risk at all and take the plunge.

 

 

 

London81

 

I think you willfeel better when using those meds if you suffering from electricity shock or numbness in donor area

 

- GUPISON for 10 days one pill per day and then half for five days

- Neurorubine 2 or 3 pills for a month

 

 

And use honey ( original one) instead of alo vera, it is a messy but it will make wonders and it is a best food you can give to your hair

 

 

 

But check with dermatologist first

Edited November 22, 2016 by Sam23

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

London,

 

The pain you're describing in the donor area is something called "post-FUE neuralgia." Essentially, it's neuropathic or nerve pain in the donor area secondary to FUE extraction.

 

Here's what happens: the traditional donor area is a network of superficial nerves and blood vessels. When you cut and remove tissue from this area, damage to the blood vessels and nerves occurs. When you remove a unified piece of tissue from a controlled area (IE a strip), the amount of damage, and the effects from this, is limited. This is why some people complain of temporary numbness in localized regions of the scalp or shock loss (from vascular/blood supply damage) temporarily occurring around the donor scar. However, the complaints are usually localized because the area of damage is localized.

 

In FUE, the opposite approach is taken. Although each cut, piece of tissue removed, and tissue damaged is much smaller, it's spread out and occurs on a much bigger scale. This means that instead of caused localized damage to a few blood vessels or a few nerves, the damage occurs over a much larger area and dozens, hundreds, or thousands of small nerve endings are affected. In the cases of diffuse vascular damage, this can result in a big -- but temporary -- shock loss throughout the donor area and some localized areas of necrosis (skin death). In the case of diffuse nerve damage, this results in the very classic pain you're describing.

 

Now, I share this not to scare you or to be critical of the FUE technique, but simply to let you know that this is a real thing that has been observed before. Frankly, I've never seen permanently in patients I've seen in person, but I have heard reports of it lingering online -- much like you describe here.

 

I think seeing your GP is a great idea. You may want to relay to him that you've heard the pain you're experiencing may be neuropathic pain secondary to the thousands of small insults made to the peripheral nerves in the donor area. There are medications specifically to treat this type of pain -- as it does occur in other instances -- so this may be something your doctor brings up and discusses.

 

I really hope this helps.

[london81]

Thank you Sam, I will look in to all that. Thanks so much for your thoughts and advice :-)

[london81]

Thank you Blake, this does make sense and I think it is nerve damage. I've even seen other guys complain of this before for quite a while after the procedure so I'm surprised when I saw Dr Feriduni about it he said he had never heard of it before and said it wouldn't be nerve pain. The only area that hurts are the back and sides, exactly the areas where the grafts were taken from. I've pretty much had it on and off since about day 6 post FUE.

 

I will mention your thoughts to my GP. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

[pkipling]

Man, that sucks. I experienced something similar in the donor area (shots of "electricity"/tingling scalp) but this only lasted a month or so and wasn't constant. I found it was worse at night when trying to go to sleep since my brain was slowing down and didn't have anything to distract me from any of the discomfort.

 

Blake provided some great insight and I hope that you can use that information to find a solution with your GP. Really hate to hear you're experiencing this.

[sidbtz]

London,

 

The pain you're describing in the donor area is something called "post-FUE neuralgia." Essentially, it's neuropathic or nerve pain in the donor area secondary to FUE extraction.

 

Here's what happens: the traditional donor area is a network of superficial nerves and blood vessels. When you cut and remove tissue from this area, damage to the blood vessels and nerves occurs. When you remove a unified piece of tissue from a controlled area (IE a strip), the amount of damage, and the effects from this, is limited. This is why some people complain of temporary numbness in localized regions of the scalp or shock loss (from vascular/blood supply damage) temporarily occurring around the donor scar. However, the complaints are usually localized because the area of damage is localized.

 

In FUE, the opposite approach is taken. Although each cut, piece of tissue removed, and tissue damaged is much smaller, it's spread out and occurs on a much bigger scale. This means that instead of caused localized damage to a few blood vessels or a few nerves, the damage occurs over a much larger area and dozens, hundreds, or thousands of small nerve endings are affected. In the cases of diffuse vascular damage, this can result in a big -- but temporary -- shock loss throughout the donor area and some localized areas of necrosis (skin death). In the case of diffuse nerve damage, this results in the very classic pain you're describing.

 

Now, I share this not to scare you or to be critical of the FUE technique, but simply to let you know that this is a real thing that has been observed before. Frankly, I've never seen permanently in patients I've seen in person, but I have heard reports of it lingering online -- much like you describe here.

 

I think seeing your GP is a great idea. You may want to relay to him that you've heard the pain you're experiencing may be neuropathic pain secondary to the thousands of small insults made to the peripheral nerves in the donor area. There are medications specifically to treat this type of pain -- as it does occur in other instances -- so this may be something your doctor brings up and discusses.

 

I really hope this helps.

 

Dr.Blake, is it still possible to have neuropathic pain from FUT? Have there been any cases where someone has had long term chronic pain in the FUT donor?

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Sid,

 

Sorry for the delay.

 

I have not personally seen chronic pain in any of my FUT patients. I also haven't seen chronic neuropathic pain in any of my FUE guys because I'm very conservative when it comes to case size and donor management.

 

I've heard reports of chronic numbness or pain secondary to FUT incision healing, but I have not seen it myself. And to be frank, it doesn't make a lot of physiological sense to me personally. The area from which you cut is small and confined, and should be away from large nerve roots that would lead to this sort of issue. Now, surgery is surgery so I would never state that something like this couldn't be possible; but see a lot of patients per year and haven't run into it yet. But I have run into the neuropathic issue with consulting FUE patients.

 

I will also say that you can have temporary numbness or some neurological sensations in the donor post FUT as it heals up. But, to this day, I have not yet seen it last permanently in any of my patients.

[sidbtz]

Thanks, just saw this. I guess it's a risk that we have to be willing to take. I've personally had a lot of bad luck with other medical procedures where there is low risk and I end up in the 1 percent category, experiencing the adverse effect. I am scheduled to get FUT soon and really concerned about this.

[Ibo147]

Hi london81

Iam also in london and haveing experienceing what you are iam trying to het in touch with you

Iam in the same pain mine is all around my head and my tempels this has put me so down no sleep

Always in pain

 

I just wana know how you are and any relife or any treatments ?

 

Iam in desperate need of help anyone , had this type of pain and how long does it last ?

[Ibo147]

London81

Please txt or call me on **07956151182‬‬

 

I need some advice and help

[mafraf100]

Hi @london81

I know this is a old post but I’m gonna try to reach out anyways. 

I’ve been experiencing the same thing as you have described, mine still new, about 2 weeks and my question is, have you found any relief? Treatment that helped? Something? 

I want to try to do anything to stop this before it gets any further along, the pain is insane and unbearable. I don’t want leave with this pain, and oh my God you have been suffering with this for 2 years from when you posted this. It scares me.

If you have found anything that helped/stoped the pain please share, mine hurts so bad that I can’t sleep at night. 

 

Thank you. 

[True]

Screw this bull**it,

I'm at the point where I doubt that I'll ever let any of these fu**ers cut my scalp whether FUT or FUE.

The idea of TEMPORARY SMP is sounding better and better.

To the sufferers on this thread:

I am deeply sorry for your pain and suffering.  Please continue to research ways to solve your pain.  I promise to post any possible pain remedies if I find them. 

Good luck, my friends.

Edited July 8, 2018 by True

[pkipling]

On 7/8/2018 at 9:11 AM, mafraf100 said:

Hi @london81

I know this is a old post but I’m gonna try to reach out anyways. 

I’ve been experiencing the same thing as you have described, mine still new, about 2 weeks and my question is, have you found any relief? Treatment that helped? Something? 

I want to try to do anything to stop this before it gets any further along, the pain is insane and unbearable. I don’t want leave with this pain, and oh my God you have been suffering with this for 2 years from when you posted this. It scares me.

If you have found anything that helped/stoped the pain please share, mine hurts so bad that I can’t sleep at night. 

 

Thank you. 

At only two weeks out, I think there's a great chance that this will pass. I've been around this forum for several years, and hearing about this type of nerve pain lasting as long as London81's isn't very common at all - so don't panic. 

Reach out to your surgeon and keep them in the loop as to what you're feeling and what's going on, and hopefully within a couple of weeks this will all pass on its own. 

Fingers crossed and wishing you the best of luck. 

[densedream]

I had no pain the next day and none since then from Dr. Larwong in Thailand.  Crazy that pain exists after 2 years.  

[mafraf100]

19 hours ago, pkipling said:

At only two weeks out, I think there's a great chance that this will pass. I've been around this forum for several years, and hearing about this type of nerve pain lasting as long as London81's isn't very common at all - so don't panic. 

Reach out to your surgeon and keep them in the loop as to what you're feeling and what's going on, and hopefully within a couple of weeks this will all pass on its own. 

Fingers crossed and wishing you the best of luck. 

Thanks for he kind words. 

My doctor knows what’s going it on, he’s been  giving me injections os steroids, which is kind of a temporary fix because still hurts and pains comes back after a day or two.  Told me to stay on ibuprofen every 6 to 8 hrs to help with the inflammation, but still the pain is there and hurts a lot more at night. Can’t really lay my head on a pillow anymore, rubbing it on hurts. I have to sleep with those neck pillows used for flights. That’s the only way I can get some sleep. Well after a week or two if this hasn’t resolved yet I’ll look into a nerve specialist to help me. My head shouldn’t  been this painful and sore after over 2 weeks. 

[gillenator]

IMHO, there's no question that the pain is related to nerve damage from the multiple number of extractions over a broad surface area as Dr. Blake stated..

And yes, there are some cases of patients that had FUHT experiencing prolonged pain in their respective donor regions, but they are few and far between.

My thought is to get a referral to see a licensed and experienced neurologist who treats nerve damage from lacerations and the like.

Most PCPs do not specialize in neurology but can certainly refer you to one.  Also a good idea to see more than one to get several opinions.

[london81]

Hello, 

I haven’t been on here for ages but thought I’d update.

I had my FUE procedure in 2014 so it’s 4 years next month. Thank fully the pain has pretty much gone away. I do get the odd flare up now and again but it doesn’t last long. I did have pretty much constant soreness in the donor area for a good 2 and a half years. I started to take vitamin b complex which I believe has helped. 

 

All the best to everyone. 

[london81]

For all those that think it’s ‘strange’  etc then let me say, any surgical procedure has risks and possible consequences and it can be different for everyone. We all heal differently and just because the majority are fine doesn’t mean to say that those of us who have on going problems such as nerve pain should be ignored and dismissed. 

My pain went after 3 years and I tired everything, everything and finally found relief taking vitamin b complex  everyday which I still do today. 

 

Best wishes everyone!   

[Billy0716]

On 7/11/2018 at 7:01 PM, london81 said:

For all those that think it’s ‘strange’  etc then let me say, any surgical procedure has risks and possible consequences and it can be different for everyone. We all heal differently and just because the majority are fine doesn’t mean to say that those of us who have on going problems such as nerve pain should be ignored and dismissed. 

My pain went after 3 years and I tired everything, everything and finally found relief taking vitamin b complex  everyday which I still do today. 

 

Best wishes everyone!   

London, hopefully you are still active in this community? I’m 9 days post op (early days I know). This is my second FUE and didn’t have any extraordinary pain with the first. I found this post a few days ago and immediately went and bought some b vitamins as I’m having intense burning/stinging pains all over my donor area. Are the B vitamins still working, and how long did it take for them to take affect?

[Britanium]

5 minutes ago, Billy0716 said:

London, hopefully you are still active in this community? I’m 9 days post op (early days I know). This is my second FUE and didn’t have any extraordinary pain with the first. I found this post a few days ago and immediately went and bought some b vitamins as I’m having intense burning/stinging pains all over my donor area. Are the B vitamins still working, and how long did it take for them to take affect?

He hasn’t been around or logged in since July 2018…