How Long Will I Be Numb After a Hair Transplant?

Numbness After Hair Transplant

Many patients suffer from numbness after a hair transplant surgery. This is a part and parcel of the hair regrowth treatment procedures. When one undergoes FUE hair transplant or strip hair transplant surgery, many hair loss sufferers have a brief loss of sensation in the scalp. There are also changes to scalp sensation. The highest point of the scalp area is influenced the most. However, it also depends on the follicle region. Underneath that one can examine the extent of deadness post your hair transplant surgery

Factors that Cause the Numbness After a Hair Transplant

The scalp is loaded up with numerous modest nerve branches. These nerve branches typically give extraordinary affect-ability to the scalp. In order to combat male or female hair loss a hair restoration surgeon tries to create new roots of hair. The doctor does so by making a cut in the skin. Similarly, he or she can also make different smaller scale punches into the scalp. This causes injury to the nerves. Usually, if a nerve is cut or harmed amid medical procedure it takes some time to recover.

Recovery time of Numbness after hair transplant

Let us check the question of a patient who was suffering from numbness:

It's been 3 months since my hair transplant and the recipient is still somewhat numb. How long should this last?

Postoperative numbness after a hair transplant may only last a few days or could take several months or even up to a year to dissipate. In my personal experience, any numbness only lasted a few days for my first two hair restoration procedures, but the third it lasted six to eight months.

This isn't generally the situation in some scalps. Unfortunately some patients have a higher sensation in the scalp area. These patients can take a bit longer to heal or there might be chances that the nerves may not completely fix. Such a danger of numbness also depends on the type of surgery the patient chooses. This happens more in the strip (FUT) surgery as opposed to FUE (follicular unit extraction)

How To Get Rid Of Numbness After Hair Transplant?

The sensation might become normal in a few days or for some patients it might take even a few years. The numbness will go away gradually over time. Be sure to communicate your concerns to your hair loss doctor. You can check with our recommended hair transplant doctors.

Here are a few things that you should be worried about and talk to your doctor if you have any of the below 3 issues.

1. A temperature rise of more than 100 degree 
2.  Unusual bleeding of the scalp or discharge from the scalp area 
3.  No relief in pain even after taking timely medications.

All Articles by Bill Seemiller

Bill is the managing publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and The Hair Loss Learning Center. He is 4 time hair transplant patient and has over 15,000 helpful posts on our hair restoration discussion forum. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a Master’s in Christian Counseling. In addition to his work in helping hair loss experiencing men and women finding the best hair transplant surgeons, he helps people with various addiction and mental health related issues in his free time. He enjoys weight lifting, kickboxing, movies, researching conspiracy related topics and spending time with his family.