Fear of needles is extremely common, with 20-30% of the world’s adult population experiencing it [1]. This can make medical interventions difficult and prevent the needle-adverse from getting cosmetic procedures that they feel they could benefit from.
Since hair transplants are normally performed under local anaesthesia, anxiety about injections to the scalp can hold you back from enjoying a full, healthy head of hair once more. But is there a way to get a 100% needle-free hair transplant?
Needle-free injection technology has been used for years in fields such as dentistry and it has recently been adopted for cosmetic procedures as well. Getting it alongside a steel or sapphire blade hair transplant ensures that no needle will touch your scalp at any point during your procedure. This article will tell you all you need to know about needle-free hair transplants, such as:
A needle-free hair transplant is a hair restoration surgery that doesn’t use any needles at any point throughout the procedure. This reduces anxiety for patients with trypanophobia (fear of needles) and increases their level of comfort. Anxiety has been known to accentuate painful sensations [2], so making the patient feel at ease by removing the object of their phobia can help them experience less discomfort during surgery.
There are two main points where needles can be involved in your hair transplant. The first is when delivering your local anaesthetic pre-operatively. A syringe is normally used to inject lidocaine or another local numbing agent into your scalp. This ensures a comfortable procedure, with minimal discomfort.
The second only happens in some hair restoration surgeries. It involves using needles to make the small holes where the hair grafts will be implanted. However, nowadays, many clinics use blades instead of needles for this purpose.
A needle-free hair transplant is mostly performed like any other hair restoration surgery. Your scalp is numbed, the required number of hair grafts are harvested from your donor area, and then the surgeon implants them into small slits previously made into your transplant area. However, there are two key differences.
Before every hair transplant procedure, your scalp needs to be numbed, so your hair transplant doesn’t hurt. While this is usually done by injecting local anaesthetic using a regular syringe, a needle-free hair transplant uses a different type of medical device to deliver the numbing agent.
This needle-free device is usually a jet injector (often commonly known by the brand name Comfort-in™). It is a pen-like tool with a pressure source which pushes the anaesthetic into your scalp at a high speed without puncturing the skin. This administration method is considered less painful than conventional needle-administered anaesthetic [8]. It also completely removes the presence of the needle.
After harvesting the hair grafts from your donor area, the surgeon makes small punctures or slits in your transplant area, where they will be implanted. Some surgeons opt to use 19/21 gauge needles to create these punctures, while others favour steel or sapphire blades.
A needle-free hair transplant will always be performed with a blade instead of a needle. This may have several advantages. Using a sapphire blade to puncture the scalp has been proven superior to using needles, as it creates smaller cleaner incisions, facilitating faster recovery [3].
Anyone who is a good candidate for a hair transplant is likely eligible for a needle-free procedure. The only differences are the way the local anaesthetic is introduced into your scalp and the tool used to make the graft insertion slits on your donor area.
There are no specific contraindications for either of these techniques. If you are, for example, allergic to local anaesthetic, you would still get a reaction regardless of whether it is injected through a needle or by jet injection. So the people most suited to get a needle-free hair transplant have most of the following characteristics:
More evidence is needed regarding the effectiveness of needle-free anaesthesia. Almost all of the existing studies are conducted in the field of dentistry and paediatrics. Many are outdated and generally reveal mixed findings.
Some of the research shows that needle-free injection technology can deliver anaesthetic quickly and effectively [4][5][6], while others report limited effectiveness [7][8]. One study found that over 80% of patients required an additional dose of anaesthesia when a jet injector was used, compared to only 2.3% when a regular syringe was used [8]. Others revealed that pain was well-controlled by jet-injected anaesthetic in 100% of the child patients included in the sample [7].
There are no clinical trials to show the effectiveness of needle-free anaesthesia when applied to the scalp. This is important because needle-free anaesthesia can work differently on different types of tissue [8]. Moreover, since several kinds of devices and numbing agents are used, specific studies should be conducted on each of them to assess the intensity and duration of their effect.
The main advantage of getting a needle-free hair transplant is that the patient is more relaxed, more comfortable, and does not have to deal with the added stress of facing a phobia while getting surgery. However, some additional benefits can also derive from this type of intervention:
Like every procedure, a needle-free hair transplant also has its drawbacks when compared to conventional options. Here are some of the most common:
Of course, you may also encounter other hair transplant side effects which may occur regardless of whether your procedure was needle-free. If you notice any concerning symptoms after your procedure, be sure to contact your surgeon.
You can expect your overall hair transplant cost for a needle-free procedure to be higher than for a conventional one. However, the exact price depends on several factors, such as the number of hair grafts you need, clinic location and reputation, surgeon levels of skill and experience, and any additional services you may require.
On average, a hair transplant costs approximately £4,820 in the UK. However, needle-free anaesthesia will likely make this procedure more expensive. And if you opt for a more modern technique, such as the use of a sapphire blade, this will also increase your overall surgery costs.
To get an estimate, contact the clinic of your choice and ask them for a quote. The best hair transplant clinics in the UK will offer you a free hair transplant consultation to get a better idea of what your hair restoration needs are and the costs they will entail.
The jury is still out regarding how much more comfortable needle-free local anaesthesia is compared to the conventional kind. Existing studies yield mixed results regarding the amount of pain or discomfort produced by jet-injected anaesthesia. One study showed that 17.6% of patients who received needle-free pain anaesthetics still felt pain during the injection process [8]. However, most patients still appear to prefer the needle-free option to the conventional method [8].
Normally, you shouldn’t feel any pain once you have received your local anaesthetic, only pressure. If you can still feel pain, be sure to let your surgeon know, as you may require a higher dose. Solutions will be found to prevent you from experiencing anything more than slight pressure-induced discomfort during your hair restoration surgery.
After any surgery, it is normal to feel some tolerable pain for the first 2-3 days and needle-free hair transplants are no exception. You can take over-the-counter painkillers for relief.
However, if the pain is intense, lasts longer than 3 days and/or worsens over time, don’t hesitate to let your surgeon know. They will ask you about your symptoms and may schedule a follow-up appointment to make sure that you are not experiencing a hair transplant infection and that your healing process is going well.
The best thing you can do to feel good and heal well after your hair restoration surgery is to follow your surgeon’s hair transplant aftercare advice closely. Over-the-counter painkillers should take the edge off any discomfort you may be experiencing. But there are also several other things you can do to stay as comfortable as possible:
If you have a severe fear of needles, a needle-free hair transplant may be the best option for you. However, you should know that the use of jet-injected local anaesthetic is underresearched and may not always offer adequate, long-lasting pain control.
The best thing you can do is to book a free, no-obligation hair transplant consultation with one of our surgeons. They will be able to provide the best personalised advice, as well as present you with other needle-free options (such as taking a sedative before your surgery, or using numbing cream before injecting the anaesthetic). Moreover, they can help you choose between a FUT and FUE procedure and get a realistic idea of the hair fullness you can achieve from your hair restoration surgery.
If you still have questions that haven’t yet been answered, you may find the information you need among the responses to these common queries.
Needle-free anaesthesia creates a sensation of sudden pressure. A gas or fluid will be pushed into your skin at a very high speed through a small hole (approximately 0.15 mm), creating around 2000 psi of pressure for around 2 seconds [2].
Due to individual pain thresholds and scalp sensitivity, different people may experience this sensation differently. Some may perceive it as slightly painful, while others may find it pain-free.
No, unfortunately not every hair transplant clinic has the right equipment to perform needle-free hair transplants. Some of the ones that do advertise this feature on their website. However, the best way to find out whether your chosen clinic offers this service is to contact them directly and ask.
No, you cannot get a hair transplant without any kind of anaesthesia. While it is generally a comfortable procedure while your scalp is numbed, without the use of anaesthetic, it would be very painful.
Hair transplants involve surgically extracting grafts from your donor area, making slits into your transplant area and implanting the grafts in those slits. This process would be very uncomfortable, not to mention dangerous, without local anaesthesia. For example, even if you could tolerate the pain, you could flinch and get your scalp cut by the surgeon’s tools. Since great precision and finesse are needed for this surgery, having your scalp numbed is a must.
While general anaesthesia is an option offered by some hair transplant clinics, many surgeons advise against this practice, as it carries unnecessary, potentially serious risks that go well beyond those of local anaesthetics [12].
Moreover, most types of general sedation involve placing an IV, either to administer the anaesthetic itself or for safety and medication management during surgery. Since the IV involves a needle, you would still not be achieving your needle-free goal in most cases.
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