Any person who wishes to undergo a hair transplant surgery wishes to understand the advantages and risks of such surgical procedure. This knowledge will help him to take proper decisions and face the procedure boldly.
Hair transplantation risks
Nerve damage is one of the important risks that associated with any surgical procedures for hair transplantation. The damage of nerve can offer in donor area or recipient area or on both these areas. Numbness is the most important symptom shown by nerve damage. Numbness is usually felt during the recovery period of hair transplant surgery which need not cause any worry or unhappiness. Tingling, pricking, itching etc are some other symptoms that accompany hair transplant surgeries which are in fact, good signs as they show the return of feeling in the incision areas.
If the numbness lingers in isolated spots, this can be an indication of nerve damage. In normal cases most of the patients emerge after from hair transplant clinic without any problems and with full sensation returns within a few weeks after the surgery.
Risk of nerve damage in modern hair transplant procedures
The transplantation techniques have become more refined leading to reduced number nerve damage cases. In the olden techniques which resulted in pluggy hairline as a result of unrefined method of donor hair harvesting the possibility of nerve damage was rampant. If the patient who undergoes hair transplantation in a hair transplant clinic strictly follows the guidelines and instructions given by the doctors it can lead to lesser problems of nerve damage. Any slackness in this regard can lead to permanent numbness in the affected areas.
In rare cases it can take six months or more for the return of sensation to its fullest extent in the scalp area. Difference in the healing process in patients is the reason for this delay. Healing process cannot be speeded up in a hair transplant clinic. Patience is a good virtue which proves beneficial in such cases.
Dermatologists are of the opinion that probability of nerve damage is lesser in the case of follicular unit extraction than in follicular unit transplant. In the latter case, a strip of hair about 4- 5 cms in width are cut form the backside of the head. Follicles of hair from this strip are separated in the laboratory. As two main nerves are usually severed during this procedure, there is increased possibility of nerve damage compared to the other case of follicular extraction. In follicular unit extraction only bruising and minor traumas occur. Therefore, the possibility of nerve damage is practically nonexistent.
