EXPERT GUIDE

Hair Transplant Trypophobia


Pete Scott, MD

This text was written according to the highest scientific standards and reviewed by medical experts. Find out more about our quality assurance.

Written by Erin D. Updated on 24 Jul 2024

Trypophobia is a fear or aversion to tightly clustered holes or similar patterns. In addition to battling obstacles in their daily lives, patients diagnosed with trypophobia often find it hard to get a hair transplant. However, there are ways to manage the effects of your trypophobia.The guide below will discuss them all in detail.

Most Important Findingssvg

Triggers for Trypophobia Scalp Incisions
How to minimize triggers Covers
Therapeutic Interventions CBT...

Understanding Trypophobia and its Triggers

If you’ve ever felt a measure of anxiety, fear or disgust when looking at a pack of tightly clustered small holes, chances are you have trypophobia. 

However, the phobia’s triggers aren’t restricted to holes alone. Any pattern that resembles and mimics a cluster of small holes can trigger your trypophobia, including looking at an item (or an image of an item) that contains small bubbles or seeds. The perfect example would be a sponge. The tiny holes embedded in sponges can easily trigger some people’s trypophobia. 

According to scientists, this specific phobia can develop at any age and doesn’t require a traumatic episode to activate. Plus, it can even have lasting negative effects on your mind, causing conditions like social anxiety and major depressive disorder. 

What does your hair loss look like?

Find DoctorFree & non-binding
  • Free
  • Fast
  • Non-binding
4.62/5
Medihair Ratings
Known from:
Medihair Forbes LogoMedihair Bloomberg Logo

Psychological Basis

While the actual phobia has been around for decades, it isn’t actually recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and isn’t listed in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Which is why there haven’t been many studies conducted to research the psychological basis of the phobia. 

However, the few that have seen the light of day theorize that trypophobia actually stems from the brain associating a cluster of small holes with danger. Your brain may make you imagine the skin of a venomous snake when you look at a cluster of holes or even a skin disease of some kind. 

There are also others who argue that trypophobia could be a feature of your overall OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Nonetheless, there isn’t a single widely recognized psychological cause for trypophobia as of yet and won’t be for some time.

Trypophobia and Hair Transplant Methods

Individuals who suffer from trypophobia can often suffer from hair transplant trypophobia, which is an aversion to the small holes created by your surgeon during the FUE hair transplant method. 

If you’ve signed on for an FUE hair transplantation, then your surgeon will most likely use a micro punch tool to create tiny holes in the donor area of your scalp to extract the hair follicles. If done correctly, each hole should be around 0.8 – 0.9mm in diameter. 

The surgeon will then transplant the extracted hair follicles into all the balding areas on your scalp, creating tiny holes throughout your scalp in the process. While the holes themselves should be tiny, this could still trigger someone’s trypophobia. 

FUT and other hair transplantation methods are not known for causing trypophobia as severe as the FUE method. 

Medihair_Hair_Loss_Brochure
Free Hair Loss Analysis

Which hair loss treatment is the best and most beneficial for you? Find out now - fast, without obligation & free of charge

Request Now

Elements of Hair Transplants that May Trigger Trypophobia

We’ve already explained how hair transplants, especially FUE hair transplantation can create holes in your scalp, which eventually trigger your trypophobia. 

That said, there are some other elements of hair transplants that may trigger your trypophobia as well. These include:

  • Scalp Incisions: The repeated incisions into your scalp to implant hair follicles may trigger your trypophobia if you’re conscious during the procedure. 
  • Hair Follicle Extraction Sites: Even if your surgeon is employing an alternative method to FUE, you’ll still have to contend with numerous small holes or scars in the side or back of your head, which serve as hair follicle extraction sites. 
  • Healing Process: It will obviously take some time for the scars and holes from your hair transplant to heal and scab over. During that time, looking at these small scars could trigger your trypophobia. 

How to Minimize Visual Triggers

Fortunately, it is not impossible to prevent triggering your trypophobia. There are some methods you could employ to avoid looking at the holes and scarring left by your transplant operation. Firstly, you must tell your surgeon about your condition and ask them to tailor the surgery to minimize triggers. 

You could also ask them to cover up the transplanted area of your scalp after the procedure to ensure you don’t see the healing scalp. 

If you do ever want to check how your scalp is healing, make sure to remove the bandages gradually and view your scalp from a distance to make sure you don’t freak yourself out by closely examining it. 

Medihair Flag

Save up to $3,200

Compare Verified Clinics

Save time and compare without obligation, free of charge
and quickly several hair transplant offers.

Compare Now

Therapeutic Interventions: CBT and relaxation techniques

Phobias can be tricky to treat and often don’t respond to medications. The most common way to overcome a phobia is through therapy. 

For trypophobia, the most successful form of therapy is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), which helps you manage your feelings of stress, fear and anxiety stemming from your phobia. 

Exposure therapy has also historically worked for treating a variety of phobias and could work for your trypophobia as well. The treatment involves actually exposing yourself to your fears in a safe environment.

Getting over-exposed to your fears can help your brain change how you respond to triggers. Ultimately minimizing the fear and anxiety you feel when you happen upon them unexpectedly. 

Key Points on Managing Trypophobia in Hair Transplants

All in all, managing to get through your entire hair transplant without triggering your trypophobia is possible. At other times you can manage the symptoms of your trypophobia with help from your surgeon if triggering it is unavoidable. All you have to do is:

  • Inform and consult your surgeon about the best course of action before the procedure starts.
  • Try to limit your viewing of the transplant area during the surgery.
  • Use bandages to hide your healing scalp after the operation.
  • Only remove the bandages gradually to check how the healing’s progressing. 
  • Ensure that your post-op environment is a soothing one.

Of course, there’s always the option of treating your trypophobia directly through therapy treatment. But if that’s not possible for some reason, the steps above should help you manage your symptoms during the hair transplant at least.

Sources

svg

What does your hair loss look like?

Find DoctorFree & non-binding
  • Free
  • Fast
  • Non-binding
4.62/5
Medihair Ratings
Known from:
Medihair Forbes LogoMedihair Bloomberg Logo