Dear forum members,

There has been a lot of discussion as to the benefits of shaving the recipient area and whether or not it is really necessary, and has been partially discussed on this thread.

Please feel free to continue your discussion about this very important topic here.

Best wishes,

Bill

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Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

Dear forum members,

There has been a lot of discussion as to the benefits of shaving the recipient area and whether or not it is really necessary, and has been partially discussed on this thread.

Please feel free to continue your discussion about this very important topic here.

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Subscribe to our Newsletters | How We Recommend Physicians

-----

To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

I am glad that Bill has given this topic its own thread. It ssems that there is some confusion, as well as significant debate, amongst the contributors to this site, as to the relative merits and downsides of shaving versus not shaving the scalp.
In my practice, I have routinely reserved shaving for those patients who have that baby fine vellus hairs that have a tendency to getting trapped under the planted hairs due to their lack of any body- the rest of my patients do not get shaved, as I feel that the presence of the hairs provides the following benefits:
1. I can best see the natural direction of hair growth
2. During the course of the procedure, I can see where more hairs are needed as I can best appreciate the existing distribution of hairs
3. Finally, most patients definitely prefer having their own hairs so that they are presentable.

Please understand that there is no right and wrong to this debate. Rather, every surgeon has his/her own approach towards this. Personally, in my over 14 years of practice, in which I have performed over 5500 procedures, this approach has been developed.

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS
Miami and NYC
www.foundhair.com

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My Coalition Membership Profile

You know, #3 was a top priority for me. While I kept telling myself I would shave if required, it would have really derailed my life / business for a while. I have a professional office with sophisticated clients, so it would be difficult to work looking like Bozo, or having some big scar on my head.

When I also see incredible results performed by docs who don't shave, that's where I'm led. I mean, all I want is incredible results. That's good enough for me...

__________________
100? 'mini' grapfts by Latham's Hair Clinic - 1991 (Removed 50 plugs by Cooley 3/08.)
2750 FU 3/20/08 by Dr. Cooley

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Cooley

Current regimen:
1.66 mg Proscar M-W-F
Rogaine 5% Foam - every now and then
AndroGel - once daily
Lipitor - 5 mg every other day
Weightlifting - 2x per week
Jogging - 3x per week

Finally a doctor speaks out on the other side of the shaving issue! Thank you Dr. Epstein.

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2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05
663 one's = 663
1116 two's = 2232
721 three's = 2163
200 four's = 800
Hair Count = 5858

1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07
Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs

My Photo Album

See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery

I have commented about various aspects of this issue on previous threads which are noted below. In general, I do not shave the hair down and work around the existing hair. WHen I am doing large cases over 3000 grafts, haveing a shaved head speads up the planting process and certainly makes it easier when I am placing. If a patient allows, I will shave them after I have finished my incisions sites. As per the reasons Dr. Epstein noted and as per my previous thread discussions, you can see the exit angles of the hairs better. SInce I use a single blade and not a multibladed handle, I am more careful to go in between existing hairs. Most of my patients can not have their heads shaven. Here's a perfect example. It may take this guy 4-5 years to regrow his hair if you shaved him. SHave his head? No way..4-5 years to regrow


I posted the following on a previous thread:
diffuse thinners thread
WHen transplanting at higher densities within existing hairs and with shaven recipient sites, there is a higher risk of transection of the hair follicles, especially if you are using a multibladed handle which makes several recipient incisions sites at the same time and you are doing it fast. It is alot harder to try to align all the blades to be perfectly parallel to the hairs of varying densities, and the exit angle of the hair is not always the same under the epidermis. If you shave the recipient site very close with no superficial hair, you can not tell very well what the exit angle is and thus even harder or impossible to avoid native hairs with multibladed recipient site handles, especially in native hairs with pretty good density such as early diffuse thinners. I use a single bladed recipient handle to manuever within existing hairs to minimize the possibility of Iatrogenic trauma. Spex is right, it is unpredictable. The good news, dakota is "permanent" shock loss is a term that is used too loosely. Review the previous thread. We need to understand and define the multitude of factors involved and the defintions and type of shock loss one is referring to. In summary, the hairs will regrow even if doctor tansected without a permanent loss and even hairs lost due to the myriad of factors with telogen effluvium, with the exception of the minituarized hair on its last leg. There is a higher risk of transection in native hairs with higher density recipient sites and high dense packing sessions, yet they are not permanently damaged. Patients will get 100% shock loss when they shave the recipient site.


I defined the shaving of hair as "shock loss due to the apparent loss of hair" in a previous thread. Shaving head shock loss.

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Ricardo Mejia MD, FAAD
Jupiter FL
Hair Transplant Network recommended physician; photos

Dr. Mejia,

I don't want to go too far off topic however, I have to ask - who uses a multibladed knife to make recipient incisions? This to me sounds very dangerous and could potentially damage existing native hair.

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Subscribe to our Newsletters | How We Recommend Physicians

-----

To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

Bill:
I am not sure who "actually" uses them.

THe multibladed handle uses the custom cut blades that are typically used by Hasson and Wong, Feller, myself and others. It allows you to load approx 6 or 8 blades at one time to make multiple incisions at once. The advantages is that it is a big time saver, the spacing is fixed to make regular patterns. It is a very nice device to avoid repititive hand injury and to create multiple sites at once. It can speed up the recipient site process dramatically for large cases. I would assume since it was invented by the same engineer that made the blade cutter for Hasson and wong that H&W use it. At the last conference I went to, the engineer who was selling the device mentioned they did use it. I would start by asking SPex, Jotronix and other sales consultants on this site if there doc uses the multibladed handle.

You can ask Jotronic to post a photo of what it looks like with the blades loaded. It is a great device and I woould assume they have one.

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Ricardo Mejia MD, FAAD
Jupiter FL
Hair Transplant Network recommended physician; photos

I honestly couldn't tell you - and also for the record - I am not a "sales consultant"

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Consultant for Dr. Feller, Coalition Member and Dr. Lindsey, Coalition Member.

See my results --->>My Hair Loss Website

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own. "Research-Research-Research"

Those are just two words, but I would argue that most everyone is a salesman at one point. If you weren't a salesman, I doubt you would come on here much posting results, etc.

Now, before your blood pressure gets up I think sales is one of the oldest and most prominent professions.

Doctor's have to attract patients, at least initially. Pfizer had to, and still does, "sell" it's cholesterol lowering drug which has no doubt saved many lives. My card says "Certified Financial Planner", but I've got to keep attracting clients by "selling" or I won't be able to afford to help the ones I've got. They give out "Best Seller" awards to authors of great books.

So, imo there are much worse things to be called than a salesman.

__________________
100? 'mini' grapfts by Latham's Hair Clinic - 1991 (Removed 50 plugs by Cooley 3/08.)
2750 FU 3/20/08 by Dr. Cooley

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Cooley

Current regimen:
1.66 mg Proscar M-W-F
Rogaine 5% Foam - every now and then
AndroGel - once daily
Lipitor - 5 mg every other day
Weightlifting - 2x per week
Jogging - 3x per week