Is Hair Transplant Painful ?

Many people who think about having hair transplant surgery wonder if the procedure is painful.  Often people have sensitive scalps and the thought of someone making cuts there seems hard to think about for these people.  There is disagreement as to whether hair transplant surgery is painful, though. 

Some say that hair transplant surgery is similar to a visit to the dentist.  This does not seem like a description of something that is pain-free.  It certainly does not seem like a relaxing experience.  Yet some feel that there is that degree of pain involved. 

The injections of the local anesthetic into the scalp before hair transplant procedures are definitely painful to some degree.  Anyone who has had a tooth pulled knows that, if the tooth is deadened properly, it is not the tooth-pulling that hurts.  It is the needle going in with medication to numb the tooth that is the real agony. 

Of course, to follow the dental analogy, after the numbing wears off there is plenty of pain where the tooth was before.  With hair transplant surgery, there is pain after the surgery as well.  Swelling is normal after hair transplant surgery and can even keep you away from work.  Your skull may feel very unusual for weeks. 

However, the pain of hair transplant cannot actually be compared to a tooth extraction.  Hair transplant pain is decidedly less sharp and some do not even feel it as pain at all.  Many people simply feel it as an uncomfortable feeling.  If they do feel any pain, it is of a degree that can be taken care of with a few doses of Tylenol. 

On the other hand, some people who have had hair transplant procedures done do not feel that there is any pain involved at all.  They tolerate the injections of the local anesthetic well.  They are not bothered at all by the procedure.  In fact they often watch television or read magazines, being awake and alert the whole time. 

Hair transplant surgery is surely less painful than it was in earlier times when larger sections of scalp were excised.  This involved more cutting to take out the donor hair and more cutting to insert the donor hair into the recipient site. 

Hair transplant surgery was a very painful procedure in the past.  Not all doctors today have given up on older methods.  This is one reason why you should ask a lot of questions when you look for a hair transplant surgeon. 

Up-to-date techniques for hair transplant use only the follicular unit and not a large amount of surrounding tissue for the donor grafts.  This cuts down considerably on the amount of pain experienced.  The procedure is minimally invasive now, so that no more of the scalp is disturbed than is necessary. 

Finally, having a hair transplant with an experienced and skilled surgeon is an important key to having a less painful surgery.  A doctor who knows the best way to do the procedure will cause you less pain an produce a better result for you into the bargain.