Shaving the Recipient Area for a Follicular Unit Extraction Hair Transplant

This question, from a member of the Hair Restoration Social Community and Discussion Forums, was answered by recommended hair restoration physician Dr. William Lindsey:

I have very minimal balding and I’m considering getting a small FUE procedure in the temple area. Does the recipient area have to be shaved? I’ve seen some photos with and some without shaving the recipient area.

We shave ALL big hair transplant cases but for a small follicular unit extraction(FUE) it would depend. It’s important to leave some hair to help figure out angles, etc. In smaller FUE cases like it sounds as if you want, we would most likely cut the hair in that area to about 3/8 of an inch. That lets us put slits at the correct angle, allows you to camouflage the procedure and facilitates easy placement of the follicular unit grafts.

Hopefully with a smallish case, you won’t have significant shock loss of the surrounding hair, which will continue to grow a half inch a month, keeping your hair restoration private.

Dr. William Lindsey – McLean, VA

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David – aka TakingThePlunge
Assistant Publisher and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum
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