Occipital Neuralgia After Hair Transplantation and Its Treatment

    Jason W. Siefferman, Yury Khelemsky
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    TLDR A man's severe head pain after hair transplant was greatly relieved by pulsed radiofrequency treatment.
    In the 2015 case report, a 72-year-old man developed occipital neuralgia (ON) following a hair transplantation procedure, where a full-thickness skin graft was harvested from the posterior scalp. The patient experienced severe pain in the right occiput, which was sharp, shocking, and accompanied by numbness in the distribution of the lesser occipital nerve. Treatments including oral analgesics, botulinum toxin injections, and acupuncture were ineffective. However, pulsed radiofrequency neuromodulation (PRF) provided significant relief, with the patient reporting over 80% pain relief for 5 months after the treatment. This case suggests that injury to the occipital nerves during hair transplantation can lead to chronic neuropathic pain, which may be treated effectively with PRF.
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