terrible pain in donor area after FUE procedure

[HairlessHero]

I recently had a FUE for about 3000 grafts. I started experiencing severe pain in the donor area around 5th day post op. I had my procedure done in India, and I contacted the doc and he advised me to take pain killlers (ibuprofen or tylenol) for a couple of days and take B-Complex supplements everyday. I did this but the pain is not going away. I contact him on 10th day post op, and he said this could be neuropathic pain and could occur to a person one in some thousands due to body sensitivity. I am not sure if it was my body type or due to improper procedure by doctor. This pain comes in everyday sometime in the afternoon and also at the night time.

 

He wants to prescribe a neurophathic pain medication, and he said this pain could last upto 3 months max, but might be there only about 6 weeks in most reported cases. Could anyone who had this kind of neurophathic pain comment on how long did they have this pain, and what medication/precautions they took to minimize or eliminate the problem. Thanks a lot.

[dreadlockrasta]

Hairlesshero how is the pain now. I have just had mine done and it is now day 7 and from day 5 I have had excruciating pain from the Doner area. It making me feel really depressed as it unbearable at times. I had had sleepless nights . I had 3740 graft done over two days from the back of my head to planted on the crown and hair line.

[bobbyboy]

I am 7 days post op and experiencing pain in donor area. Thought it was due to the shaving, but after doc saw me, said it was nerve pain. Prescribed elavil, which i don't think i'll take,

Tylenol and ibuprofen last about 3 to 4 hours taking them alternatly.

I had NeoGraft Pain kicked in about day 4 I'll ride it out and hope won't be long term.

[bobbyboy]

I am 7 days post op and experiencing pain in donor area. Thought it was due to the shaving, but after doc saw me, said it was nerve pain. Prescribed elavil, which i don't think i'll take,

Tylenol and ibuprofen last about 3 to 4 hours taking them alternatly.

I had NeoGraft Pain kicked in about day 4 I'll ride it out and hope won't be long term.

[CaddyTad77]

For the people feeling pain in the donor area after FUE could you post some pics?

Would like to see how how the donor area looks?

 

Hope you guys feel better.

[bobbyboy]

not sure how to put a picture up i have an i phone

[darkmanhyk]

this thread made me very nervous to be honest and I thought that forums are a way to be upfront in presenting your experiences and outcomes that each went through by going recommended doctors on this forum.I think the consensus is we need to know who the doctor was, and was it due to a mistake done by the doctor, or maybe bobbyboy is an unfortunate patient that suffered from this.

 

I am very nervous now, as I myself am about to going to have a mega FUE soon, but this pain thing scared me a little, and I need to know more info please, to discuss things with my doctor and avoid it happening to me if it was due to a technique or a machine used in the operation. I am a pharmacist and using tramadol is something i would want to avoid using for prolonged time, as it can be abused and misused.

[Shampoo]

this thread made me very nervous to be honest....I am very nervous now, as I myself am about to going to have a mega FUE soon, but this pain thing scared me. I am a pharmacist and using tramadol is something i would want to avoid using for prolonged time, as it can be abused and misused.

 

Good luck on your mega-fue....I would think "terrible pain" would be very rare in any kind of hair transplant surgery.

 

BTW...I have heard all the kudos about tramadol but it never did much for me. I guess we are all different.

[bobbyboy]

I am 8 days post and hopefully pain starting to subside. Mr dr said probably nervepain and prescribed elavil which i haven' taken, Ibuprofen seems to do it. Today first time only needed 400 mgm all day. Thank G D I was worried in for a long siege. Let me not jump for joy yet, but looks like you guys are right. Kicked in day 4 and decreasing now at day 8.

[bobbyboy]

Personally I only got 1000 grafts and am glad, even though 2000 recommended.

Can always go back in a year for more. There is some trauma etc so why not break it up. I would think less chance of a problem

 

my opinion

[imnothere]

Thought i may aswell bump this thread instead of starting a new one..

 

Im 4 days post FUE and since yesterday im having pain in donor area. Not as terrible as some here (maybe 4 out of 10) But its uncomfortable. All scabs are healing and looks real tidy, but i have a dull tingling pain, mixed with what feels like bad bruising over certain spots of the back of my head.

Similar pain to having a really angry spot that you just banged accidentally.

Also loss of sensitivity, slight numb and tingly.

 

Im sure its from all that anisthetic. I concur that its worse in afternoon/evening.

[imnothere]

Thought i may aswell bump this thread instead of starting a new one..

 

Im 4 days post FUE and since yesterday im having pain in donor area. Not as terrible as some here (maybe 4 out of 10) But its uncomfortable. All scabs are healing and looks real tidy, but i have a dull tingling pain, mixed with what feels like bad bruising over certain spots of the back of my head.

Similar pain to having a really angry spot that you just banged accidentally.

Also loss of sensitivity, slight numb and tingly.

 

Im sure its from all that anisthetic. I concur that its worse in afternoon/evening.

[MrNes]

I had my transplant done in Istanbul/Turkey at the "Istanbul Hair Center"

It was done with FUE 2144 grafts

I'm now on day 9 after the op, and I still have some pain/soreness and itchiness in the donor area.

Here are some pics of the donor area one the day after and one 7 days after the transplant

[johndoe1]

Myself and another patient I know (both FUES..he had ~2100, I had 1500) both had pain starting a few days after and it was in isolated spots. Nothing showed externally like a pimple. Doc said likely ingrown hairs. We both did antibiotics (doxycyline pill and erythromycin gel (may have misspelled those)) and pain subsided.

 

But yes, you can expect pain, sometimes for weeks. Ingrown hairs, nerve damage, etc. An HT is very traumatic to the head, despite what some HT marketing literature might say!

[iegoldfeld]

I just had my first HT 7 days ago and I am experiencing the same pain in the donor area as described by everyone else. I had ~2,600 FUE and was feeling good until day 4 post-op when the donor pain began. Not terrible during the day, but it is a combination of burning, stinging and itching. It is more painful at night (just signed up on this site and writing this at 3:30am because I can't sleep). I have to say that I was worried about a serious complication when this started and although it doesn't seem that this is all that common, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue. Overall, I was very satisfied with my procedure, the doctor I selected and his staff. Too bad I have this bump in the road, but hopefully it will resolve itself as it has with the others who have posted.

 

I have to say that it is nice to have a place to get support and encouragement from others in this brotherhood! I will update my condition as hopefully I will continue to to improve and it will make others more at ease if they go through the same situation.

[mikeey]

I think you should reveal the Name of the HT Doc , it would help fellow members here to evaluate and maybe save them from getting complications , I hope you Understand that you have a service to offer to this board because you ask for Help and then you should also HELP fellow boarders ... it works in synergy ... Pls give this a serious Thought !

[iegoldfeld]

Understand your point and I will certianly give it some serious thought. I haven't seen any other members provide their HT Doctor name when they have complained of this issue, but I can understand that people would be interested to know. My doctor is a very experienced FUE specialist and although I suppose it could be associated with something he did specifically, based on what I've seen, I think it is more about the patient versus the doctor with this particular situation. I don't want to be unfair to him either If that is the case. I would like to see how my condition progresses over the next week or so and provide updates. I will give serious consideration to providing the doctors name.

[iegoldfeld]

As an update to my last post. It is day 12 post-op and I am about 90% pain free...just a residual tingling and some itching, but improving every day. It played out just as others has described. Pain began to subside around day 9. Feeling really good and everything looks good at this point.

[antileech]

Hi All,

 

Sorry for bumping up this old thread but it meant a lot to me reading about others during my recovery.

 

I had a lot of pain in the donor area as well (FUE 1400). Started around day 4, couldn't sleep for days. Pain killers (ibuprofen and paracetamol) helped. The pain started to go away around day 9/10, and on day 12/13 (today) it was completely gone.

 

These tips may also help:

- the pain from the donor area for me was a combination of nerves (tingles, occasional sharp pain) and the healing of the 1400+ little holes. The shampoo that i was given by the clinic dried my skin all over my head and the back of my ears and i was afraid this would have a slowing effect on the healing of the skin (so after a couple days i switched back to my regular shampoo);

- I read about a lot of people using aloe vera to calm the donorarea. I myself used Calendula creme on the donor area to cool/calm the area and speeden the recovery;

- don't set the roomtemperature too high and don't take too hot showers as this also affect blood pressure/heart rate;

- when using vitamin B, buy the timed released ones

[Jaywalkr]

Hello my fellow bald and ex-bald friends. Thanks for forums like this. So surprise! i'm having the exact same as you guys and it is really starting to get bad. I had FUE done friday the 13th (omg) with 3150 grafts planted. So now it is 18th so 5 days post op and i haven't slept one minute today. The donor area is bad, there is sharp pains in couple of places and then some burning in the back of my head/donor area. the planted area is Ok but there is also a little burns. Im going on painkillers and have to get more soon because these what i got from the Doctor, xeforapid, lornoksikam 8mg are gone, so i guess i go with normal ibuprofens then... The worst it at evening/nights when the pain is at it worst, day times have been ok.

 

Do you have any ideas how to sleep? It is now impossible to sleep with this "special" pillow i got from the clinic. when the donor area is in the neck/back of the head so the whole area is against the pillow, and that accelerates the pain even more.

 

Thanks guys!

[MKK]

I have the same thing .. Had my FUE 6 days ago .. 2500 grafts in London UK. There is one part on the donor area that burns and sensitive when I touch it. It looks fine and the pain is worse at night. I was taking paracetamol at night for the first few days but when I stopped it the pain was there at night. Going to contact the HT Dr to let them know .. I hope it get better. Put Aloa Vera gel on it and seems to help... burns at first though!

[Jaywalkr]

Hello. Yes, it gets better soon. i contacted my Doctor and told him about this and it is one reason for having painkillers. My burns in the donor area and planted area went away just on the 7th or 8th day. One thing that helped almost instantly was because i had alot of crust/dried blood still in the donor area so when you put the lotion for about 30-45 minutes before going to the shower you can gently (very gently!) with your finger tips massage away the crust at the same time when you are showering. i did that couple of times also carefully on the planted area. Planted area just very gentle that it comes off with its own weight. no need to force or scrub it. In the donor area i used a little more massage in the shower to get almost everything away. Pain went also.

[MKK]

Thanks for that .. will try this. I was told to put conditioner on for 5 mins then shampoo .. seems you left lotion on for much longer.

[Jaywalkr]

Yep, it seems that many have got different instructions how to do post-operation. For me they said that lotion 30-45mins before shampooing. I guess it just softens the crust a bit more if you leave it a little longer than 5mins. When i still had had the pains i tried also applying Aloe Gel in the donor area after the shower or evenings when the pain was at worst, and it helped just for a little while. It got a little nice "breeze" in the back. almost a cool feeling but it didn't work that well for me. Just massage away the crust from the back when you are showering/shampooing, that will help alot after a little while.

 

I am now soon 2 months post-op and everything seems good so far, i still have redness/coloring where the hair was planted so i keep using a hat, but i think that can take several months for it to get completely to skin color. Its not as much as right after operation but i cann still see where the hair was planted. Otherwise no problems i would say. I have new hair growing and hoping to get still nice density so it blends in with other hair. But as they say you'll see the final results after 10-12 months or so....

[inkdmouse]

Hi guys. I decided to bump this thread, since it relates to what's happening to me. I underwent FUE to lower my hairline. ~1200 grafts. I started having that kind of intense, sleep-preventing pain around day 5, and now I am on day 8 and it is still very bad. I take Tylenol/Advil to cope, but it only does so much. I hear a lot of you using lotions - my doctor said nothing about lotions, but can I ask what kind people are using with success? Does this nerve pain really go away when the scabs go? I still have 95% of my scabs. Any advice is appreciated.