Pain control is so very important for every patient. I take that concern to an extreme level. As many of you know for my conventional linear harvesting (standard hair transplant) where discomfort can be greater, we have every patient under what is known as Level 2 conscious sedation, meaning patients do not feel anything. If you have had a hair transplant procedure without sedation, you will understand the difference of what we offer here. Why don’t most surgeons offer Level 2 sedation? Because they cannot. I operate out of a fully accredited surgical facility by the Joint Commission, which operates at the highest standard and must be in compliance with all of their rigorous policies. I truly believe that this has made all my procedures in my office safer. With ARTAS robotic FUE surgery, the patient must be more awake since it is a longer harvesting procedure with the head in a dependent position. Because of this, we strive to make sure the initial few minutes of anesthesia application is the least uncomfortable as possible. I have started to use a new device that operates through the gate theory of pain, meaning that if we stimulate a non-painful feeling that your brain cannot even register any painful signals. Traditionally, I would use a vibration instrument that worked but nothing like the new one that I have now. It truly functions to shut down discomfort before it can even begin. In addition, I employ another level of vibration using my fingers that makes discomfort virtually undetectable during the majority of the initial anesthesia application. I constantly monitor one’s comfort level and ensure that you are not having any degree of pain. Caring about a patient’s feeling is perhaps the underlying principle that is the most important and then constantly striving to ensure that person is okay is a natural follow through.

Dr Samuel Lam is a board certified hair-transplant surgeon in Dallas, TX. To schedule a consultation please call 972-312-8105, or visit Dr Lam’s hair transplant forum to ask him a question.