Your Thoughts On No Shave Procedures ?

[Torn]

What are your opinions on no shave procedures ? A few docs I'm considering do not shave down the recipient area. And although that is a plus as far as concealing the work you've had done, I'm concerned if this method yields good results. That and if there are no negative aspects to it why then do other docs insist on shaving ?

 

I'm not completely bald and concerned the existing hairs can only get in the way. Are my concerns unfounded ?

 

What are your thoughts on no shave procedure ? Good, bad, indifferent ?

Yes of course there's the obvious benefit, but I'm much more concerned with the end results.... as we all are.

[hairweare]

I am apparently one of the few patients that Lorenzo did not completely shave. He is not one who wastes many words as his only reply when I as why he didn't both times was that "it is not necessary". YMMV however depending on your specific case.

[KO]

I think in hairweare's case there was mostly transplanted hair to work around? Perhaps that could be the diff.

[hairweare]

You may be right

[johnny2000]

You may be right

 

Hey HW

Do you have Any quality updated picture of your HT ?

Would love to see you hair up close pictures

[gillenator]

What I have found is that the surgeons who can follow the natural direction and angulation of the existing hair do not require the recipient area to be shaved down. Why then is shaving down a concern for some docs?

 

They want to be extra careful as to not transect the neighboring hair shafts and FUs when they make new recipient incisions and also when there is a considerable amount of existing hair where they are making new recipient sites.

 

The more existing hair there is to work within, the more risk there can be for possible transection.

[Torn]

Hairweare,

 

When you say the dr did not completely shave, do you then mean the dr partially shaved your recipient area ? If so, exactly what areas did he actually shave and what was left unshaven ? Also how long was your hair when you had your procedure and did you feel it was at all a problem ?

 

 

KO,

 

You mentioned the difference was HW had mostly transplanted hairs to work around. What do you feel is the difference between working around transplanted hair as opposed to native hair ? Or a combination of both ? I have mostly transplanted hair I believe at this point. Should this be a concern for me ??

 

 

Gillenator,

 

Yes transection and getting the right angulation of the existing hairs is my biggest concern. Though I suppose that comes down to judging the drs past work and speaking to prior patients. Of course I could just shave down myself.... but if it's not really neccessary then why go through it ?

 

 

Thanks guys....

[hairweare]

Only my donor was shaved, but I did keep my hair short at about 1.5 inches. Again, I was expecting to be shaved but Dr. Lorenzo never discussed it other to tell me that it was not necessary when I asked why not.

That worked out well as my stylist was able to blend the resultant bad "mohawk" with the sides after only a couple of weeks and I looked pretty normal again.

[gillenator]

Torn,

 

The same principle applies to the donor extractions as well as the recipient area, meaning avoiding transection. When the surgeon is extracting the FUs from the donor areas, he again needs to see the acute angles and the natural direction of the hair shafts as they protrude from the scalp.

 

So not only is there an issue of transection of existing hair in the recipient area, there is the concern of transecting the grafts from the donor zone during the extraction process.

 

Of my four procedures, only my fourth did my surgeon want to cut down the length of my recipient zone. He did not shave it, he merely cut the length down from 4 inches to approximately 1/2 inch. By my fourth procedure, I already had enough hair volume that he wanted to be extra careful which I appreciated.

 

I did not like the idea, but I got a haircut afterward to shorten the overall length of my existing hair. We did not discuss this beforehand yet I should have known that it would be a possibility. So the more hair density to start with, better to taker a more safe approach.

 

Before FUE, you never heard of doctors shaving down the recipient area. And with FUHT, they only shaved the dimensions of the proposed strip being excised. They actually wanted the hair length above and below the sutures to be long enough to hide the sutures.

 

Experience is everything. And those docs who do not require shaving is usually because they are comfortable with their own level of skill and proficiency.