Cutting Hair Before Hair Transplant

Q:

Quick question for you doc.

I was wondering, will I need to buzz off all my hair before a hair transplant surgery? It really doesn’t matter, but I just want to know what I’m getting into. I imagine that my remaining hair, while very thin, obscures the scalp too much for comfort.

A:

You do NOT need to buzz off your hair before a hair transplant.

While some patients with significant miniaturization of their existing hair may be asked to cut it short or clip it, we typically are able to do this in office before the procedure if they are OK with it. Clipping hair is not mandatory in any way. However, it may increase our precision in some patients and we do it for them only if they have no problem with having very short hair for a while after hair transplant.