Greetings all, a very common question I am asked is, “how painful is a hair transplant procedure?” Most people imagine it like a trip to the dentists office or some sort of extremely painful process. In reality, it is not like that at all. That is not to say there is no pain associated with the procedure. The level of pain however is very tolerable, and most would quantify it as minimal. To begin with, I use a vibrating mechanism when administering my anesthesia (all local anesthetic) which greatly reduces the discomfort associated with the injections. Because the brain perceives vibratory sensations quicker than painful sensations, by using the vibration it greatly reduces the discomfort associated with the injections. Once the numbing injections are complete, the patient should then be pain free for the duration of the procedure. After the procedure I prescribe pain pills for my patients, but most tell me they don’t even need to take them longer than a day or two. By day 3 most of the discomfort is gone. I can attest to all of this because I have had the procedure myself, so I am not only speaking from my experience as the treating physician, but also as the patient. I hope this clarifies any confusion related to this topic.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, MD