Which surgeons don't shave the recipient area?

[RCWest]

When I had my first HT surgeries, they did all the placing of grafts without cutting my hair. I noticed a lot of doctors require the shaving of the recipient area. Which surgeons can do the surgery without the shaving? Can a doctor who normally shaves be talked into doing it without shaving? I had my mind set on Feller Medical Clinic (Dr. Feller or Dr. Lindsey) until I read that Dr. Lindsey shaves.

[wb280]

Hi RC, as far as i know, Dr Feller shaves. I think most of the top doc shaves, including my doc. I did plea with him, but he smiled and nicely told me i cannot possibly ask him to do a nice job with his hands tied. Like i heard from Spex before, consider wat u need and not wat u want.

 

Its tough to wear a cap for the first couple months trust me, i am flying into a cap rage anytime soon but concentrate ur thoughts on the end results that all it matters mate

Edited July 10, 2010 by wb280
wrong words

[Doug Monty]

I was prepared to have my head shaved to make everything easy for the Doc, but they said it would be better to leave the hair but short so as they can see the direction of the surrounding hairs and then match the transplanted hair witht the surrounding hair.

 

This seems to make sense. I would also think the transection would be lower from possibly cutting existing hair when your making the sites.

[RCWest]

I may have to bite the bullet. I haven't had hair shorter than 2 inches since 1st grade. I even went through the mullet phase in the late '80s. It wouldn't bother me if my previous grafts weren't pink. I may try getting some suntan (I NEVER go outside without a hat on) and see if the color will blend in with my pale whiteboy scalp.

[Sparky]

Your better off shaving for the best result.

[TC17]

Dr. Konior does not shave. Drs. Shapiro do not shave. Dr. Cooley does not shave. Dr. Arocha does not shave. Dr. Simmons does not shave. I don't think that Dr. Reed, Dr. Carman, Dr. Bernstein, Dr. True, or Dr. Dorin require it either.

 

Of course, if the result is going to be over a certain graft number they require shaving, but anything under 2,500 (I think) and you're good to go. Look at their results. I call BS on the posts that say a doctor has to shave to get the best result. It's easier on the doctor, but the doctors listed above bang out consistently great results without the associated downtime of shaving.

[wb280]

Hi RC! TC is right.. it still depends on your graft count your surgeon estimates on ur 1st consultation but i know Docs like Doc Feller and Hasson and Wong defn needs to shave. If u are really really not into shaving, then i think maybe u should pay a visit to those surgeons TC recommended..

 

With that said, TC, your words are quite harsh. Sparky and I are just giving our thoughts and there is no definite answer as to whether shaving is indeed required for the best results.

[Sparky]

Yeah those words are a bit harsh!

 

"I call BS on the posts that say a doctor has to shave to get the best result"

 

Maybe hes had a bad day.

 

Shaving is the only way to see the exact direction of the hairs, you may get close without shaving, but not as close as you would get with shaving.

[TC17]

Sorry! I didn't mean it to come across as rude. It truly was not my intention, guys. However, I stand by my belief that shaving isn't necessary, and I look to the results posted by the physicians listed above as confirmation of that. In fact, I know Dr. Simmons said something a few months back that for his particular method, having hair is a benefit.

 

Also, you shouldn't even try to talk a doctor into not shaving if he is a shaver. If he felt comfortable in working on a scalp with hair, he wouldn't require shaving in the first place. If you're dead set against shaving, then you need to consult with those physicians that don't require it and are thus used to working like that.

[Sparky]

I requested being shaved, even though my doctor does either/or.

[NotUrAvg]

I don't mean to contradict wb280, but Dr. Path is willing to proceed without shaving though he doesn't prefer this. WB280 must not have been and persistent and irritating as I was =) But it does make things harder for them. Dr. Path suggested it made my surgery 1-2 hours longer because he didn't shave. IMO, he did an excellent job putting in the grafts with my native hairs in place.

[wb280]

Hi NUA! nah no worries at all i could be wrong but as far as i know, it really depends on the graft and norwood scale. I was at NW 2 and i left my hair long pre-surgery so i reckon it will be really tough for the hair techs to plant

 

If the patient is NW 4 and above, i reckon it might be feasible. In my case, it wasnt

[azn_guy]

Please note that the Doctors that do not shave use a Sagittal Slit Technique, while there are Doctors that REQUIRE shaving utilize the Lateral Slit Technique

 

Big difference in techniques. There have been many discussions on this forum on which is better.

 

Dr Cooley (who was my surgeon) does not require shaving and uses the sagittal method which he is most comfortable with.

 

I could be wrong here, so please correct me if I am mistaken. I know that H&W and Feller use Lateral Slit Technique thus require shaving

[azn_guy]

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, I requested Dr. Cooley to shave my head, I didnt want him to have to deal with moving and removing my existing hair. I thought it would be more efficient for him to focus on placement of grafts than to deal with all my existing hair

[wb280]

hi there azn! Based on wat i know, my doc uses the lateral slit technique but he politely requests shaving as my native hair was blocking and will prob make things more difficult to him and his team.

 

The last thing u want to do is to antagonise the person kniving ur head Jokes aside, but like what NUA and i discussed, there are many factors. A NW 5 or beyond prob requires little to no shaving.

[Tao]

I've had two surgeries with Dr. Konior and neither time was I shaved. Dr. Konior said he doesn't require shaving for procedures under 2,500 grafts (although preferrably under 2,000) but does require shaving for more than that. Not shaving does indeed increase the surgery time and that probably puts the removed grafts at a little more risk. The trade off obviously is that you don't look like such a goofball during recovery. That's a tough call as we're paying a lot of money for the best results possible. In my case, I ended up having almost 2800 grafts my first surgery and since I had diffuse balding and mostly a lot of thinning hairs left, Dr. Konior left them and transplanted all around them. I was able to go back to work after two weeks and no one could tell I had surgery of any sort. That was really nice. And when it grew in, the results were incredible. Exceeded all my expectations. Granted, I have good donor hair - very coarse and thick, which provides good coverage.

 

My second surgery ended up being 2400 grafts on my crown, which was essentially bald so shaving was not an issue. Once again, I returned to work after 10 days and nobody could tell I had done anything. I feel very lucky. Dr. Konior is meticulous and does great work.

[RCWest]

Thanks for all the answers! This is by far the best, most mature forum I've joined. Keep the discussion going. :cool:

[sullirock]

Let me get this right. When you say shaving you mean shaving the donor area or the recipient area or both areas?

[TomA]

This is a legitimate question, as I personally would not have had the procedure if would have been required to shave my head. I stand up in front of people for a living. I can do that with a naturally bald look, but not with some random part of my head shaved.

 

Dr. Path does not require that you shave, put prefers it. And (at least when I was there) he did did not charge extra if you chose not to do so, even though it takes him and his team a lot longer to do the procedure.

 

Dr. Madhu does not require you to shave. He prefers that you do, however, and charges an additional US$425 if you don't. I'm having work done on the crown (mostly) this time, and might let him shave that IF he doesn't go too far. What do you think?

Edited July 21, 2010 by TomA

[TomA]

Please note that the Doctors that do not shave use a Sagittal Slit Technique, while there are Doctors that REQUIRE shaving utilize the Lateral Slit Technique

 

Big difference in techniques. There have been many discussions on this forum on which is better.

 

Dr Cooley (who was my surgeon) does not require shaving and uses the sagittal method which he is most comfortable with.

 

I could be wrong here, so please correct me if I am mistaken. I know that H&W and Feller use Lateral Slit Technique thus require shaving

 

From the doctor's recommendation page:

 

 

Dr. Madhu makes use of parallel (sagital) incisions for single hairs while perpendicular (coronal/lateral) incisions are reserved for multi-haired follicular units. While Dr. Madhu’s use of sagital incisions for single hairs helps him and his staff in identifying slit sizes, he employs the lateral slit technique for multi-haired grafts because he feels it provides a greater illusion of density.

 

[TomA]

Let me get this right. When you say shaving you mean shaving the donor area or the recipient area or both areas?

 

The recipient area.