Nerve pain post-op - normal or not?

[MaximumMM]

Hi there,

I'm day 5 post-op. I had minimal pain to begin with, but over the last two or three days it has become increasingly severe and constant. The pain is localised in the lateral humps above and behind my ears, which are also numb. Nowhere else is numb. My main occipital area doesn't really hurt much either.

I know numbness and indeed pain are normal post-op, and vary from patient to patient. However, having read about long-term nerve damage and chronic pain I'm now getting concerned. 

I'm interested to hear others' experienced and opinions. Is localised numbness and severe pain (throughout the day, not only when sleeping or to the touch) normal? Looking at my post-op pics I can see these areas are a little bloodier, and presumably were areas of thicker skin.

Is there any way to tell normal pain and numbness from early warning signs of something else at this stage? The pain is really hard to bear.

Edited April 5, 2023 by MaximumMM

[jay80]

Had nerve pain in my lateral humps for several weeks, first week I think I had nothing, then had pain between weeks 1-4 post op.

Totally gone now

[MaximumMM]

13 minutes ago, jay80 said:

Had nerve pain in my lateral humps for several weeks, first week I think I had nothing, then had pain between weeks 1-4 post op.

Totally gone now

How bad was it? Did it lessen gradually?

Mine is currently agonising. The thought of this for multiple days let alone weeks is not nice.

Edited April 5, 2023 by MaximumMM

[NikosHair]

43 minutes ago, MaximumMM said:

I know numbness and indeed pain are normal post-op, and vary from patient to patient. However, having read about long-term nerve damage and chronic pain I'm now getting concerned. 

Pain thresholds are person-specific but pain and numbness are very common (nothing to be too concerned about at this stage). As @jay80 says it should sort itself out in a matter of weeks.

[jay80]

It faded over the few weeks. At points it was awful

If you're not taking any pain relief then don't be afraid to do so. That helped control mine

It's normal and will pass

[Arees87]

Hey I had strong post HT pain in donor area. It started after 4 days since surgery and its gone after 5 days.  I did light massage of my donor every hour  and put cold aloe vera gel and cold cucumber

[Bb111]

Can you describe the pain? Nerve pain is typically described as tingling, electric, burning, shooting. Regardless talk to your surgeon. Your surgeon is the best person to guide you through what you are experiencing.  

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@MaximumMM,

While some minor pain and discomfort is very common and is to be expected postop, I am uncomfortable with and concerned about the words “severe“ and “constant”.  If you are truly experiencing severe and constant pain, I strongly recommend calling your clinic immediately to discuss this and see what he or she recommends. In my opinion, you should not be experiencing extreme pain as this might be a sign that there is a problem. On the other hand, everyone does experience pain differently and what one might consider minor, another might consider moderate, etc.  nonetheless, better to be safe than sorry so please contact your clinic immediately to obtain his or her recommendation. I also suggest picking up the phone and calling them rather than waiting for an email response as anything severe should be dealt with immediately.

Please keep us posted as this is something concerning and members of this forum want to be an encouragement to you in your journey.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[GoliGoliGoli]

FUE or FUT? TBH I had ZERO pain after my surgery. Itchiness yes, but no pain whatsoever. Granted I only had crown work done and of course it varies person to person, but as the poster above says "severe" pain does seem unusual. 

[mavigo]

I had nerve pain, itchiness and sensitivity from my FUT scar and still get it from time to time (4 years after surgery). I later had an FUE, no pain, itchiness, nothing what so ever from basically day 1. 

[MaximumMM]

On 4/6/2023 at 4:11 PM, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@MaximumMM,

While some minor pain and discomfort is very common and is to be expected postop, I am uncomfortable with and concerned about the words “severe“ and “constant”.  If you are truly experiencing severe and constant pain, I strongly recommend calling your clinic immediately to discuss this and see what he or she recommends. In my opinion, you should not be experiencing extreme pain as this might be a sign that there is a problem. On the other hand, everyone does experience pain differently and what one might consider minor, another might consider moderate, etc.  nonetheless, better to be safe than sorry so please contact your clinic immediately to obtain his or her recommendation. I also suggest picking up the phone and calling them rather than waiting for an email response as anything severe should be dealt with immediately.

Please keep us posted as this is something concerning and members of this forum want to be an encouragement to you in your journey.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Thanks the response. On day 7 it's still fairly painful. Perhaps a little less than before but it is still painful. It fluctuates through the day, and is responding to painkillers a bit more now. 

It was a FUE procedure.

From what I have read pain levels vary hugely, and many seem to have experienced some lasting severe discomfort, at least for the first couple of weeks. I'm hoping it doesn't last longer than that for me.

There is no sign of infection and the area seems to be healing well, which the clinic have confirmed based on pictures.

So based on that I can only conclude that I'm experiencing nerve damage and hope it will resolve sooner rather than later. My scabs are also off now, so I hope that being able to sleep normally will take the pressure off the back of my head.

[MaximumMM]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:50 PM, Bb111 said:

Can you describe the pain? Nerve pain is typically described as tingling, electric, burning, shooting. Regardless talk to your surgeon. Your surgeon is the best person to guide you through what you are experiencing.  

It's like a generalised and dull ache on or around the back of my scalp towards the lateral humps. I guess it could maybe be described as burning, I'm not sure. 

I did ask the clinic, but didn't really specify the pain type. They said it was normal for it to get a bit worse from day 3-4 as the toll of sleeping with the neck pillow exacerbates any pain. I'll ask again.

Anecdotally I have seen a fair few people saying they had bad pain for 10 days or more, although it doesn't seem to be the norm.

[gillenator]

Your licensed physician can prescribe pain medication to address the more acute levels of pain…you need to ask for a prescription.

[TEXAN35]

 

I also had burning sensation from day 4 onwards. I hadn't taken any pain killers till day 4 after transplant but then I started having some itching/slight burning like sensation in donor region. I kept cold pressed organic aloe vera gel in fridge and applied that every few hours and it helped. Sometimes I even took 200 mg of Ibprufen and pain went right away. Benadryl can also help at night.

The pain/discomfort should slowly fade away in a week or so. 

[Bucky O Hair]

Yea, I am about 14 days postop and I have the typical 'sunburn' feeling in my donor area with that 'pinching' nerve pain whenever I press into the area with my fingers.

Hoping it will subside, but it has remained the same for the past few days.  I don't recall if it was worse during the first week or not...but I'll give it a couple more weeks before I start to get concerned about it.

[Fue3361]

Nerve pain should eventually go away, and should at most take a few months.  Nerves are very slow to heal, but they do heal.