Do I Have to Shave My Head for Hair Transplant Surgery?

This question, from a member of our hair loss social community and discussion forums, was answered by a staff physician from Coalition hair transplant clinic Shapiro Medical:

I had a follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS) hair transplant about 10 years ago, and I was looking into going through a second one soon. I had a consultation with Dr. Rahal in Ottawa who suggested a second strip with 3000 grafts for the front section and the crown area which I think would be a great improvement for me. However he apparently shaves the whole region where new hair will be implanted, which will leave only the mid-section of my head with native hair. Keeping my native hair everywhere would make concealing the recipient areas much more easy.

Looking through the pictures, it looks as though even if I take 4 weeks off work, it will still be quite apparent that I went through surgery after that period, as regrown hair will be very short. I don’t want it to show.

Follicular unit extraction (FUE) is out of question for me as my previous scar will be apparent as shaving the back of the whole head is necessary.

Is shaving the recipient area standard in strip procedures, or should I just keep looking for another hair restoration surgeon who is willing to do it without shaving?

To shave or not to shave? Sometimes it is tough to say. It would probably be good to send some photos of the area of the head that you are planning to do transplantation. Typically here at Shapiro Medical like with Rahal, we shave when we can and when it will benefit the patient. If there are reasons why the patient can’t shave or it would make going to work/home life impossible, there are usually exceptions.

The major reason we like to shave the recipient area is to maximize the total number of follicular unit grafts we can put in an area and to reduce the time the grafts are out of the body. We like to do this on surgeries where we are dense packing or in patients that we area doing a large total number of grafts (3000+).

Having said that, if a patient can’t shave his hair short for one reason or another, we can still do the surgery, just at a slightly lower overall density. Some surgeons disagree with this line of reasoning and never shave the head. This is also fine for those clinics. At SMG we find being flexible is the best way to go for the patient.

It sounds like you are planning on doing some work in the front and vertex. If that is the case, there would only be 1500 -1800 grafts going into the frontal half. This may be possible without having to shave. Pics and/or an exam would be necessary to determine this.

~ Shapiro Medical
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David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.

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