I don't wish to shave donor area..also see this photo's please

[izzy]

Hi Folks,

 

Just joined and this is my first post

 

I've been losing my hair since the age of 22 I am now nearly 30. I have diffused thinning, this is most noticable at the front as I have a very weak hair line. I place on having a hair transplant via strip mething and hoping to get 3500 to 4000 grafts. It is not possible for me to shave my the shave the recipient site as when I return to work it needs to be indectable. I am taking two weeks off work to have the transplant work done. If I don't shave the recipent area is it still possible to have a hair trainsplant?

 

I have attached some photo's. And would like your advice please , could i have a transplant, how many grafts do i need and would it be possible to carry out a transplant while keeping the hair the length it is in the photos.

Thanks for reading my post.

 

Izzy

[Thehairupthere]

Are you taking any preventative medication? You do not have to shave the recipient area many doctors don't require it. But you should know you will look thinner after the procedure as the surgeon will cut some of the native hairs you have during the transplantation process. This is a cosmetic cut, so the hair will grow back normally it will just take some time. You also may experience some shock loss in the thinning areas because I see you have a lot of miniaturized hairs and those may not survive the transplantation, but the surgeon will more than compensate for that with the newly transplanted hairs. Many people go back to work after 1 or 2 weeks but you will look a bit thinner, but at that point you can use concealers such as dermatch or toppik to hide any pinkness or thin areas.

 

The number of grafts you need I would say is somewhere around 2500-3000 grafts but you may not be able to get that much, it really depends on the donor area. The surgeon needs to take a look and see the quality of the donor hair as well as the skin to see if it's elastic enought to harvest that many grafts at once. You should consult with a recommended surgeon from this site.

[izzy]

Thanks for your respone! Will i get a better hair transplant if I shave the recipient area?

[Thehairupthere]

No your results should be the same either way. This is something that has been debated on this forum for quite some time, but many surgeons believe that they can see better when it's shaved, while others can work around it easily. Some surgeons also like to see the hair longer as it gives them more information on the design aspect of the procedure so they know how the hair lays.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

There are several doctors on here who don't require a shave. I think shaving makes it easier on the doctor. Two weeks off work is not a long time, but it is possible. Most people can't afford to take off much longer than that. My opinion, in two weeks, it may look like you haven't had anything done. However, like the previous poster stated, you probably will have to use some kind of concealer

[izzy]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. I was under the assumption that not shaving the recipient area made the job a lot more difficult for the surgeon as they have to keep move back the native hair or work through it. if you look at my hairstyle in the photos would you suggest I shave it or keep it as it is at that length. Most of the photos i have seen of people who have had hair transplants like 99% have shaved the recipient area, do you have any photo's of people that havent? Cheers Buddy

[corvettester]

Hey Izzy,

 

I had my first HT nine months ago at the age of 29. I didn't have to have any part of my head shaved at all. Also, I looked fine after a week so that my HT was completely undetectable. I even have fair skin which is actually more noticeable on people with fair skin like myself. However, I looked fine after a week.

 

Below you can find a link to my hair loss website or just check my profile to see my results. I have lots of photos. Be sure to check out my "10 Days Post-Op" photos where you can see that I have virtually no redness or scaring visible.

 

I went to True & Dorin. Dr. Dorin performed my procedure and all went well. I'm very glad I did it. I'm actually going back for a second pass with Dr. Dorin late next month. I highly recommend him. Let me know if you have any questions regarding my procedure.

 

Also, I definitely don't think you need 4,000 grafts... that seems far too high. I'd say closer to 2,500-3,000. And two weeks will be more than enough time to recover as well as be undetectable.

 

 

Corvettester

[Thehairupthere]

If you look through this forum you will see that many people don't shave the recipient area. Sometimes it can help to see the area, but many doctors don't find it necessary to shave the entire head for this procedure. Below you will see a link to a similar case where you can see photos of a patient getting the procedure done and if you scroll down lower you will the final results.

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/151141-dr-dorin-3042-fut-post-op.html

[izzy]

Thanks Guys, Most Imformative,

 

NEWHAIRPLEASE....how long do you think you need to take time off work to properly disguise any work done. Obviously i would be walking into work with my current hairstyle (see photo's) and then to shaved, but that should be no big deal if you can hide the scare and then come to work with a crew cut shave head?

[Ahairdown]

"I was under the assumption that not shaving the recipient area made the job a lot more difficult for the surgeon as they have to keep move back the native hair or work through it."

 

 

You hit the nail on head right here. But here is the bottom line, most top docs don't insist on shaving your head. This was one of my requirements also and I've asked two docs including the one I went with why they don't during consultations. They answered because it prolongs the patient getting back to their normal routines without the HT being noticed.

 

Yes, it is more difficult and more time consuming - but a lot of these docs are here for YOU versus trying to churn out multiple procedures or making their jobs easier. Gee, what a concept.

 

Here are some of the docs that I remember considering during my research that don't require shaving down. They all repeatedely turn out awesome work too - use the search feature for their names and looks at some of the results. many of worse off than you also.

Shapiro, Dorin, True, Arocha, Panine, Konior, Cooley

 

Again, these are the docs I was personally considering - there are many others also but you may have to call them to ask since many don't show photos of the work directly post op.

 

I had taken off work where I could have been out of the office for almost two weeks, and at day five was presentable enough to walk into the office and save some of my vacation time for a real vacation..... The pic in my profile with the head on shot is a pic I took the morning on day five.

 

Good luck and hope this helps

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Corvett

Your hair looks great!

 

Thehairupthere

Is it not standard to at least shave the DONOR area? I thought this was always done! By donor area, I mean the actual strip, not the entire donor area.

[Thehairupthere]

Yes the donor area is always shaved, but the poster was referring to the recipient area if I'm not mistaken. After the procedure is completed the donor area is not noticeably shaved as it is removed and the scar is easily hidden with about an inch of hair length.

[corvettester]

You hit the nail on head right here. But here is the bottom line, most top docs don't insist on shaving your head. This was one of my requirements also and I've asked two docs including the one I went with why they don't during consultations. They answered because it prolongs the patient getting back to their normal routines without the HT being noticed.

 

Yes, it is more difficult and more time consuming - but a lot of these docs are here for YOU versus trying to churn out multiple procedures or making their jobs easier. Gee, what a concept.

 

Ahairdown,

 

Well said... Now I have to thank you for keeping it real.

 

 

Corvettester

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Thanks!

[orlhair1]

I think that normally in 2 weeks you can look pretty good after the procedure. Your hair does look a little thinner, and if someone is looking close, they can see that you have a lot of new transplanted hairs, but overall most people are not looking that close. I am five weeks out from my surgery and have several pics posted from the first week and then at 15 days. My recipient area was not shaved. The hair in my crown area was cut short, but not shaved and so it was not bad. There was a little bit of trimming in the hairline as well, but nothing noticeable to anyone. I went out to dinner 5 days after my transplant and told the people with I had just had it. They said they would not have known had I not said something.

[salami]

Izzy,

 

I had a procedure with Dr. Dorin exactly 4 weeks ago. I also did not want to have the recipient area shaved.

 

Here is a before and exactly 2 weeks after photo, which is the day I went back to work. My hair does look a little thinner in the after (I also had a little sunscreen on which gave it a slightly thinner texture), but no one had a clue I had anything done.

[Ahairdown]

Great pics salami - I can't tell you had anything done and I'm looking for it! Your hair and skin tone are somewhat similar to OP's too so it's an awesome example

[izzy]

Salami,

 

May I ask how many grafts you had transplanted and how's it going so far?

[salami]

Thanks Ahairdown. I added a 4 week below next to the before and 2 week after.

 

Izzy, I had 1464 grafts. It would have been great to have gotten more, but unfortunately, I am not a great HT candidate. I have very poor donor density, but since I already had a strip procedure 14 years ago, I will try to make the most of what's left of my donor hair (and continue taking Propecia...I made the mistake of stopping it for a while and it cost me a lot of hair). Someone with better density, and without having an existing scar to excise may have gotten almost double the amount of grafts with the size of my strip.

 

I posted my immediate before and after here:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/161290-dr-dorin-1-464-grafts.html

 

I'm just over 4 weeks now, and things are going well. Recipient area looks and feels good (albeit a bit thinner), and the donor scar has been improving, but still very pink.

 

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

[recedingboy]

This is a good thread. Lets recap on the doctors that do not require (any) shaving though.

 

"Shapiro, Dorin, True, Arocha, Panine, Konior, Cooley"

 

Out of these, I do know that for FUE, at least, Shapiro requires shaving. Rahal does too I believe. They will want to shave the back and side of your head, and some portion of the recipient area.

 

I'm currently consulting with Dorin we'll see what he has to say.

 

Some doc's say that shaving IMPROVES the outcome. If this is true, it makes a patient feel that they are doing the wrong thing by insisting upon not shaving.

 

With FUE, I think a nice way to handle it (all welcome to chime in) is to grow the donor region a bit longer, and request the doctor to shave 2-3 linear strips down spaced enough to where the hair directly above will naturally fall above it. The doc will then extract from this area only. Hopefully they won't shave any area of the recipient, however none of this can prevent SHOCK LOSS, can it? Shock loss is the wild card s far as being able to remain undetectability.

 

BTW, is it okay to use dermatch on the recipient site, say 1 week or 2 after surgery or is that not a good idea?

[Thehairupthere]

FUE requires that you shave the donor area in all cases, but the amount of grafts determines how large of an area needs to be shaved. If it's a small case you can have a small slit shaved as opposed to the entire back, but the top recipient area does not need to be shaved.

[cool2dunk]

Ok, this posts confuses the hell outta me.

For the longest time, looking at patient result photos on this site, most people look way more bald at the 3 month stage than their pre-op pics. But from pics I see in this thread, some people look the same after a few weeks.

[Thehairupthere]

It really depends on the situation, many people look pretty much the same but slightly thinner after the surgery, and sometimes it also takes several weeks to see more shock loss occur. This really varies from patient to patient depending on how much miniaturized hairs they had during the procedure and how the surgeon had to go between existing hairs. What is certain is that you usually will look slightly thinner after the surgery but see a really great change by 6 months but need a full year to see the final result.

[aaron1234]

Healing/recovery totally depends on the individual. i.e. how many grafts were done / how much shock loss the patient has / or how much native hair the patient has. Someone like corvettster will have a better cosmetic post-op recovery because he has a very good head of native hair. Someone like me on the other hand goes through a longer phase (and I also decided to shave). I really wasn't looking good the first 3 months of my last transplant but then things started turning around by month 4-5.

[Ahairdown]

Hey Aaron, you were far better off than I am when you went in for your last HT. No doubt that if you hadn't shaved down you would have been able to comb your hair forward and be under the radar quickly. On my profile I attached a pic at day 5.

 

One thing I'd recommend to people though, and luckliy I thought about this some... is to change your hairstyle to comb forward BEFORE the HT so that after the procedure it doesn't draw attention to your hair because it 'looks different' (i.e. styled differently)

 

Aaron, question... I was under the impression that Shapiro didn't require shaving the recipient - was this your choice or do they charge more if you don't?