FUT Without Shaving Recipient Area?

[JeffC45]

I am close to booking a surgery date with a recommended surgeon on this site for an FUT procedure. Prior to making this decision, I was pretty adamant about doing FUE over FUT because a major priority for me is being able to seamlessly return to work a few weeks after the procedure without the HT being noticed. Since I am about a NW 2, I initially believed that I would need to shave my entire head for an FUT procedure, exposing the scar. Therefore, I ruled it out.

 

However, after meeting with this particular recommended doctor, he told me that during his FUT procedure, the entire head is not shaved. Therefore, within 10 days of the procedure, not only is the strip scar mostly covered by the hair in the donor area, but the unshaven hair in the recipient area will mostly mask the implanted grafts.

 

This is exactly what I was hoping for and changed my mind back to doing FUT. However, there is a lingering doubt in my mind that this seems too good to be true.

 

Every other doctor I've consulted with has told me that for an FUT procedure, I need to at least shave the recipient area-- a deal breaker for me.

 

Is there a consensus on this? Is it possible to do an FUT transplant effectively while keeping both the donor and recipient area at close to full length? Is anything compromised by keeping the donor and recipient area at full length, rather than shaving down one or both areas?

[TakingThePlunge]

I don't know that you'll find consensus but there are some recommended physicians that rquire shaving of the recipient area and some that do not.

 

During my first hair transplant with Dr. Alexander, I didn't have enough hair on top to be a concern. But, he also performed the second one without shaving and that left me able to easily conceal the surgery during healing.

 

Offhand I could say which other physicians do not require shaving but they are out there and they are delivering consistently good results..

[esrec]

Donor area is easily covered if your hair is a few inches along. The recipient more difficult.

 

If you're operating on a very small area I suppose its possible, so long as you have a hairstyle in mind that will sufficiently cover the area you're operating on.

 

Ex-if you are restoring your hairline, have your crown and mid-scalp mostly intact, and you're ok brushing your hair forward to mask the recipient. I've yet to see someone who brushes their hair back conceal the procedure entirely.

 

Which doctor are you considering a no-shave approach with?

Edited May 14, 2016 by esrec