If you are one of many people who suffer from the effects of baldness or hair loss and have come to the conclusion that hair transplant surgery is your best option, there may be some worries around whether or not a hair transplant is painful. After all, the scalp is a pretty sensitive area on the head and the thought of making cuts or having a procedure done to that area can be scary. But there is less to fear than you may think. Most people have compared a hair transplant surgery to a visit to the dentist. While not totally a pain-free and relaxing event, many have said the minimal degree of pain is comparable. One of the more painful aspects is the injections done by a local anesthetic into the scalp before a hair transplant procedure is done.  Patients have described the feeling of this similar to getting a light pinch on your arm or a small prick of needle when you get a regular injection. But the process is quick so you’d only feel the “prick” for a few seconds. After local anesthesia has been administered, your scalp will be numb so you won’t feel anything after, and until the anesthesia wears off, which will be well after the procedure is over. Some patients even report to never having felt any paid during the entire process.

Some swelling is normal after hair transplant surgery and your skull may feel rather numb for days or weeks. Each patient reacts to the anesthesia differently. The degree of swelling and numbness tend to vary by patients as well, so you could be one of the lucky ones to not feel much discomfort after. But for the majority of people, hair transplant is what it is: a relatively simple outpatient procedure that allows patients to return to work the next day. In fact, many of our patients do!

With the advancements of technology, skills and medicine today, hair transplant surgery is surely less painful than it was in earlier times when larger sections of scalp were excised. The latest hair transplant techniques use only the follicular unit as opposed to a large amount of surrounding tissue for the donor grafts. This cuts down considerably on the amount of pain experienced.

If you are considering a hair transplant procedure, Bosley suggests that you set up free consultation with a Bosley Professional. Meeting with a Bosley Professional will help answer your questions and guide you to the best solutions for your hair loss.

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