Can Hair Transplant Surgery Be Performed in and around Existing Hair Without Shaving?

This insightful hair loss information was posted on our Hair Restoration Social Community and Discussion Forums: by Dr. Jerry Cooley of Charlotte, NC who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Grafting into and around existing, native hair will be a requirement for my next hair transplant and I am interested in any such cases (i.e. shock loss/damage to existing hair etc).

We graft areas with existing hair all the time. Shaving is a nice technique, but fewer than 5% of our hair transplant patients are willing to do this. People are willing to take a week off to recover from hair restoration surgery but expect to be almost undetectable at that point so they can go back to work.

Grafting into existing hair requires special techniques including:

1) Taking time to make incisions using high magnification.
2) Tumescent anesthesia.
3) Control over size and depth of incisions..

We still see some thinning hair post-procedure from time to time but it is usually very mild in most cases. Using the ACell may trigger anagen growth in existing hair, so we actually see a little more shedding 3-4 months after the procedure but this is well worth it considering the robust hair growth and thickening of existing hair.

Dr. Jerry Cooley

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David (TakingThePlunge) Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant for the Hair Restoration Forum and Social Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.

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