risks of nerve damage following transplants

[andieje]

Dear All

I have seen a few recent posts on this forum regarding chronic headaches resulting from hair transplants. It has been suggested the headaches arise from nerve damage.

Is this a common side effect or complication as I have not seen this before in my research. I would imagine the risk in the recipient area is minimal and the risk is greater in the donor area if you have FUT.

I would imagine that any surgery runs the risk of nerve damage if a HT can cause nerve damage. So any treatment such as a face lift could cause nerve damage and permanent headaches.

Is nerve damage something a good surgeon can avoid or is it just an unavoidable risk and sheer bad luck if it happens to you?

Regards

 

[ensitiven]

There is a minor risk of nerve damage associated with hair transplant procedures. This nerve damage is most common in surgeries which remove a portion of the scalp.
..but follicular unit extraction is simple, painless, and there is no risk of nerve damage being caused by the hair transplant procedure.

 

[andieje]

Hi - that sounds as if you are saying that the risk of nerve damage is only from the excision of the donor area in the strip technique and there is little or no risk from harvesting the donor hair in FUT. However is it not correct to say that both techniques penetrate as deep into the scalp (in the fat layer below the hair follicles) as each other? So in FUE there are multiple round incisions scattered diffusely through the donor area whereas in FUT there is one single, long incision in the middle of the donor area. I would have thought on this basis you were at equally at risk from nerve damage in both procedures?

 

[andieje]

I also note that I have changed my own opinion since my original post in which i thought FUT was more risky than FUE in terms of nerve damage

 

[Bigmac]

Why has your opinion changed now.

 

[andieje]

Because I did not previously realise the incisions in FUE were as deep as the incisions in FUT. It would seem logical to me that the deeper the incision the greater the risk of nerve damage. I had incorrectly thought FUE did not penetrate as deeply.

 

[topccat29]

Having experienced multiple strips, 2 hairlifts, 1 scalp reduction and fue, I would say that it is very unlikely that you would experience nerve damage with fue. I €™m not a doctor so I can €™t explain the medical reasons for this but if I had nerve damage every time I cut myself just through working I would have nerve damage all over the place, but that is not the case. It €™s seems that the nerve damage is more likely when cutting across greater distances but I €™m not sure why that happens to be.

 

[Prohairclinic]

andieje wrote:

Because I did not previously realise the incisions in FUE were as deep as the incisions in FUT. It would seem logical to me that the deeper the incision the greater the risk of nerve damage. I had incorrectly thought FUE did not penetrate as deeply.

FUE, when performed correctly does not go deep. Actually it is a beginners mistake to go deep. During a FUT strip removal the surgeon has to go and cut unterneath the hair follicles.

As far as I know FUE only goes about half as deep as FUT.

Speaking as a patient I had considerable nerve damage from my FUT surgery. First there was high levels of pain involved. Part of my donor scalp was numb for almost a year or so. To date, almost 10 years after my FUT surgery I still feel strange tingling (mostly related to weather changes) in my donor area.
I had no such feelings after my FUE treatments.

 

[andieje]

thanks beverotti.

the information I stated that FUE is as deep as strip was taken from a hair transplant clinic website so I now have conflicting information. Is it possible on this forum to request a comment from one of the doctors so we can get an opinion directly from a trusted practitioner?

@topcat, i did initially think that a longer incision had greater risk of nerve damage but then I changed my mind, and now I'm not so sure again Perhaps a longer cut means more chance of damage to the same nerve which is more likely to cause permanent damage.

All these reports of pain are quite depressing for someone considering surgery. I've had surgery before (not hair) and I know how much it hurts after an operation. My op was much more invasive than a HT but it was all healed and ok after about 3 months I think. I don't fancy a numb scalp for a year!!

 

[andieje]

@Bverotti: do you think you experienced so much pain because of the surgeon or because of the technique per se?

 

[Bigmac]

My ops with SMG were a walk in the park, no pain apart from the usual discomfort after having surgery.

 

[Prohairclinic]

I guess it was a combination of both a problem of surgical skill and the procedure itself.

IMHO it stands out of question that a strip procedure is much much more invasive than FUE. I not only know this from personal experience but I hear this frequently from ex Strip patients.

 

[greybrown]

[):h::I am 5 days post FUE. And getting very bad nerve pain in my donor area. I hope this will go soon as it is quite bad. FUE is not painless as many people will tell you . I am taking max paracetamol and ibuprofen and only just helping a little.

 

[janna]

Greybrown,
it's common for post op pain to be more severe in the 2nd week than in the first with FUE. I agree that it's not a painless procedure as it's also not a scarless procedure either. The pain you're experiencing now should be gone in about a week.

 

[Prohairclinic]

I guess pain is also an individual sensation and it is not the same for everybody.
For example we experienced many time that woman have a far higher pain level. Up to date we have yet to hear any female patient to report pain.

As for the male patient there are some that have some pain during the first 2 weeks. This is however easily handled with pain killers.
The vast majority of our patient reports very mild discomfort or itching during 10-14 days.
For those comming for small session (like up to 1000 grafts) they usually report feeling no pain or discomfort at all.

 

[Bigmac]

greybrown wrote:

[):h::I am 5 days post FUE. And getting very bad nerve pain in my donor area. I hope this will go soon as it is quite bad. FUE is not painless as many people will tell you . I am taking max paracetamol and ibuprofen and only just helping a little.

How are you feeling now. Have you been in touch with your clinic.

 

[janna]

Bverotti wrote:

For example we experienced many time that woman have a far higher pain level.

We females have known this forever!

 

[greybrown]

;;D Yes the pain now is much better now I just take 2 pain killers in the morning only . It gets less each day. It was so bad pain all the way down my neck and down my spine, the worst thing was I didn't know how long it would go on for 1month ..a year. I wondered what I had done to myself just for the sake of some more hair on my head. My clinic told me to wait it out . It was very unusual . Thanks for your comments.

 

[Bigmac]

Glad it's getting better, not sure why you have pain in your back. Maybe they hit a nerve while extracting, hopefully that subsides too.