Can Hair Transplant Be Done Without Shaving Your Head? As the days go by, people are becoming more and more concerned about how they look and what others think about them. And having healthy and shiny hair plays a crucial role in making you look better. As this is the case, the ones suffering from hair problems like hair loss turn to some cosmetic surgeries. Hair transplantation operation is the most popular of all. Hair transplantation works by removing healthy hair follicles from the donor area and injecting them into the area of the scalp that is bald or sparse in hair.
The Hair Transplant Operation
Promises an appearance both natural and good looking also it is a permanent solution to hair loss. However, some questions may appear in people`s minds before undergoing the operation as to whether shaving their head would be necessary or not. When the potential aesthetic consequences of this kind of intervention are taken into consideration, shaving the head may sound particularly intimidating and it is probably not something anyone would want. As the hair can be an essential part in determining the identity of people, the possibility of shaving it off can be traumatizing.
If the person normally keeps her/his hair long, he may start with gradually turning to shorter hairstyles. This may make the adaptation period easier and shorter for the person, also for his family and friends. Furthermore, after cutting the hair, one may find out that she/he does not have the head shape that best suits to a shaved head. So, can hair transplant be done without shaving your head? Is grafting possible without shaving? How should it be performed? What are the pros and cons of not shaving your scalp before the operation? Let’s consider these questions in detail in the following lines without further ado.
Hair transplant operation with the FUE technique
The answer to the question is yes, it is possible to perform hair transplant operation with the FUE technique without shaving the head however it mostly depends on the characteristics of individuals. By principle, if the hair transplant will be operated in a small area, then the specialist may find it unnecessary to shave the donor or recipient area. For instance, while in an operation where four thousand follicles will be injected, in another one, only one thousand follicles would be enough just to cover some bald areas or the forehead.
During the operation, the surgeon chooses an ideal donor area and then administers local anesthesia to it. The operation then continues with removing the healthy follicles from the donor area one by one using an instrument called a micro motor to make tiny round punch incisions (0.6 – 1.20 mm in diameter) necessary for extracting the healthy follicles from the donor site after the local anesthesia has taken effect. After that process, he trims each follicular unit to create the donor grafts for the transplant. He then places the harvested grafts in a storage solution to preserve the hair cells. And finally, the surgeon uses either custom-made needles to open the channels in the recipient sites and insert the grafts, or use an implanter pen called a Choi pen to insert the grafts.
But in fact, a hair transplant without shaving the hair thanks to the famous FUE technique is not something widespread and preferred because the process comes with its disadvantages. It may make things harder for the surgeon to see the area properly and select the grafts. So it is generally not preferred. What`s more FUE hair transplant operation, in which no shaving is involved, is more complicated and more expensive.
Advantages Of Having the FUE Hair Transplant Without Shaving Your Head
First of all, there will be no shaving and no scars after the FUE hair transplant operation. The crusts will be hardly visible in the donor area after the surgery. The healing period will be much shorter. You will be able to get back to your daily routines in just a couple of days.
Disadvantages Of Having the FUE Hair Transplant Without Shaving Your Head
As stated above, most of the specialists prefer to shave the patient`s head completely during the transplantation process. Because an intervention without shaving the scalp may be more complicated and have some potential side effects and this operation is something that can only be carried out by leading hair transplant specialists. Shaving the head before the operation is also considered as much more hygienic because a shaved scalp is pretty easier to keep clean after the hair transplant surgery.
Furthermore, shaving the head will provide the surgeon with a much clearer view of the donor and recipient areas thus facilitating the intervention. As there will be an unobstructed sight, the process will be much easier, faster, and precise for the surgeon to remove and inject the grafts. This will cut the operation time short. The peril of the grafts being tangled or lost among the hair when being injected to the recipient is will be completely reduced.
FUE hair transplant operation without shaving the scalp
And without the hazard of long surrounding hairs laying over and sticking to the grafts, the risk of dislodging a graft in the early postoperative period will be eliminated. Also, thanks to the shaved scalp, it will be quite much easier to follow aftercare routines such as applying after ATP spray during the first couple of days.
Another disadvantage is that this operation can only be performed on people with long hair or having a baldness level which is not advanced. Also, the cost of undergoing an FUE hair transplant operation without shaving the scalp is usually a lot much higher than normal operation. Besides, due to the amount of meticulousness needed to be given to the operation, the surgeon will be able to remove fewer follicles in a single session. This means other several operation sessions will be needed to get the best results
To sum up, as with every other thing, a hair transplant operation without shaving your head has its own pros and cons. However, it depends on your doctor whether you can be a candidate for such an operation.
