There is no way I will shave my head and I was wondering who were the best in the country who can meet my needs. I have been leaning towards Epstein but he does not seem to have as many patient posts as Feller (No way am I shaving) or Wong (same issue). I would greatly appreciate some help. I am located in NYC but would be willing to travel if I really had to do so. Is Epstein really great or just ok. All I see on this board is FELLER, Feller, Feller. I do not think he has a negative review.

Hey readyand40

My names richie and I went to Dr Feller in nov 2007 for 2100 crown grafts .

There is a reason you can't find a negative Dr Feller review , the man is just very good at what he does hahaha .

On a more serious note , nobody ever wants to shave down for various reasons ,from fear of being found out to just fear on looking like a clown for a while , hell buddy I had long surfer style hair so shaving it off was the last thing I wanted to do !!

Different doctors will always have different approuches but most , although I admit not all , shave down for the long term benefit of the patient .

The belief is that it runs less risk of exsisting folical disection , this ultimatly leads to better yeald , and then , by default better results , not to metion being better value for money .

Like I said nobody ever wants to shave down , but I would ask you to consider this .....

Please think about the long term goal and not so much the short term discomfort .

I hope I have given you something to think about bud .

richie

Alexander or Cooley do a great job and they dont require you to shave.

However I echo what Richie has said!!!

I too concur with Richie, but if there's no way you'll do it i have seen great results from alexander and a lot of his patients don't seem to shave.

Do you know roughly the size of session you would need? - I remember reading that Dr Shapiro doesn't require shaving for smaller sessions.

The following is not a negative but an observation that proves nobody can be right all the time:

When I had my recent surgery with Dr Feller we had a conversation about coffee in which he stated that decaffeinated coffee tastes the same as real coffee. I rest my case.

Tubs

Shaving also allows for the doctor to match the angle and direction of the native hair, in addition to causing minimal to zero peripheral follicular death. Look at any of our patients shaved down and you'll see that all the hairs flow and blend into each other like they are supposed to.

I recently received a photo by a patient that did not have this done when he had two procedure with a different clinic a few years ago. The difference between his buzz cut and that from one of our patients that allowed for buzzing is dramatic.

Remember, shaving may be an issue for the short term but the reason you are considering hair restoration is for the long term.

I appreciate all of you answering. Honestly there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I will shave my head. I do not know how many grafts I will need. I do have hair on my head but nobody would say I have a great head of hair. Nor would they say I look like Telly Savalis. I would say I am probably btwn 3 & 4 (maybe closer to 3)I have only recently started considering doing another transplant (I did one 12 years ago. No idea how many grafts but I would guess about 500. guess the experience was ok but honstly do not recall)As you can tell I only opted to sign up for this forum today so you can see I am moving in the right direction. Will a web consult help to determine how many grafts I might need? Based on work I have seen on the web that show graft counts I would guess 2000-2500 but I am no expert.

I hear you on not wanting to shave. I have the same concern. What if you are a nw5? Will feller and wong bypass shaving if yiu didn't have a bunch of hair to begin with?

Readyand40,
I was exactly in the same situation, I refused to compromise and have to shave. It does make the Dr.'s job harder and the session will take longer but during my research I came to the conclusion that it was totally possible to keep my hair long as long as the surgeon I selected was willing to spend more time and be more dedicated to my personal needs which is why I went to Dr. Siporin.

HK500 - Too harsh IMO -If we want to polarize the argument - the other extreme is that clinics that do not shave are willing to compromise the HT to increase business.

Personally I think that neither extreme is correct, different clinics have very different views and both are doing the what they think is in the best interest of the client.

Tubs

i can vouch fro Dr. Epstein. One of the reasons why I chose him ws becasue he didnt shave and I stilkl had wisps of hair I wanted to save to help to a bad job of concealment. Funnily enough, I kojacked my head for 7 months after the procedure and didnt care of people even saw the scare which they all did. I could not believe how popular the bald look is with women !!!!

I do appreciate all the feedback. The whole reason for my getting a HT is b/c I do not want to go bald. If I have to shave to get the HT, then , in my mind, it defeats the purpose. I understand all points of view and I really do hope I can get as good a result with hair then I would without. I would appreciate more feedback on any others who have had HT and did not want to shave (and the wonderful doctors that you used). Maybe I am only looking to hear what I want at this stage of my journey (I am not trying to be stubborn) but that is where I am at this point. I greatly appreciate the feedback.

there's a clinic in cypress that has shown lots of examples of guys who did not shave down. this one is 2500 grafts.

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=48&threadid=79833

shaving down comes down to risk factor. as jotronic stated, the risk of killing peripheral native hair when shaved down is almost zero. but if there's no way you'll shave and understand the risk i'm sure you'll find a doc who will perform the surgery. you had just better make sure that doc is an absolute TOP doctor or you could end up in worse shape than you started....

Hi, I hear what you are saying about the shaving. Believe me, I had "plugs" from the early 90's and the LAST thing I wanted to hear is that they needed to be removed, broken up and re-planted! Ok, so, after (i) reading here and questions galore, and (ii) lots of consultations (I am also in NYC), which I advise you to do strongly, I ultimately chose Dr. Bernstein for the repair(s) (coming along GREAT!!) and the forthcoming transplant. See Dr.'s, ask them Q's, and then make a more informed decision. Further, sometimes "shaving" isn't smooth like a face...sounds like you need some good medical opinions from qualified Dr's. Hope this helps.

I had 2500 with Dr. Cooley, and he didn't require shaving. I'm a 'diffuse' thinner and except for a few noticeable old plug removal at the hairline, my procudure would've been pretty much undetectable after three or four days.

But, I too think it would give a better result if you shaved. Like you though, I couldn't do it mostly because of my work with clients.

The first question is are you looking at FUT or FUE. If FUE then shaving is almost always done. Fut on the other hand requires only are area being removed to be shaved, and your existing longer hair will come together at the suture line.

I will be going for FUT. I appreciate all the feedback and will line up some consults with Bernstein, True/Dorin and Epstein and see what they say. I have been hearing great stuff about Scott Alexander and Cooley but have also heard great things about Docs right here in NYC so I am not sure if I will need to travel. I guess I will see how comfortable I feel after consults and decide if I need to look outside my area.

Shapiro Medical Group doesnt make you shave . They suggest it but wont make you.
Cant get any better then that clinic

Hello,

My impression is that the "to shave or not to shave" is based more on the size and specific plan for a given patient's procedure than on an overall clinic's policy, but don't quote me on that.

A word of advice, perhaps unsolicited: to the extent that shaving can facilitate optimum graft placement and avoid excess trauma to existing hair, as some doctors have suggested on this forum, I would say that it's worth being creative with a cap for a few months (assuming of course that one can).

I was lucky; after my first procedure (complete shaving of the top), my job presented no problems whatsoever with wearing a cap, and since my second (shaving of most of the top, with enough forelock left unshaved to look almost normal), which I had roughly two weeks ago, I have been between jobs, so I've dealt with a cap only for sun protection.

Benjamin

I had a 4000+ megasession 9 months ago which has mostly grown in and looks decent. This required shaving the remaining native hair which was not very much. I wore a hat after the procedure for a long time. The first 3 months your scalp will be rough and red; until hair grows in to cover the work you will look really awkward. Most of my remaining native hair did not keep growing, so there was nothing to hide the work until the new hair grew in.

If you have alot of native hair surounding the work, then you may look relatively normal in a month when that hair has grown out, but that hair will most likely experince shock loss; only expect half of it or less to start growing back immediately.

I had always known I would need a second procedure. While I am happy with my decision to bite the bullet and get as large a procedure as possible, which requird shaving, I dont think I will be able to shave again for the second procedure. This means I will only be able to address the bald crown and will just have to live with the coverage and hairline I got from the first procedure.

Everyone's circumstance is differnt. If you are already a cue-ball, shaving is not a deal breaker. If you have very diffuse coverage, I would recommend shaving before the pricedure to get everyone used to the look. If you have siggnificant native hair and shaving it off will impact your look, then you probably shouldnt be considering a HT. If you only need dense pack hairline and dont want to address the rest, the ngo to alexander. If your remaining hair is thin and you know it will be gone within 3-5 years, you probably want to bite the bullet, shave and get it replaced with a megasession.

The down time is no picnic, but I am glad I did it, although there is no way in hell I can fit shaving the front down into my schedule now.

Good luck.