Is it best to shave your entire head or just the incision for surgery?

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I am scheduled for left temporal lobe surgery in about 2 months and was wondering if it would be better to just shave my head and let it start scratch from the beginning, or just let them shave where the incision is going to be. I know it is going to be very itchy when the incision heals, but probably itchy when the hair grows back. My hair is just below shoulder length right now. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Comments

Re: Is it best to shave your entire head?

Submitted by bella0809 on Mon, 2011-02-07 - 20:15

Let them cut as little as possible. I had left-temporal lobectomy and if I kept my hair down, it would cover the shaved area. It seemed to take a while to grow back, so I'm glad I could cover it. The doc is not going to let hair be in an area where it will cause a problem. I have pix. If you'd like to get an idea, drop me an e-mail. Just add @yahoo.com to my name & I'll send the photo. Where are you having the surgery? I had mine at NYU with Dr. Doyle and have been seizure-free since then (5 years).

Ann

Let them cut as little as possible. I had left-temporal lobectomy and if I kept my hair down, it would cover the shaved area. It seemed to take a while to grow back, so I'm glad I could cover it. The doc is not going to let hair be in an area where it will cause a problem. I have pix. If you'd like to get an idea, drop me an e-mail. Just add @yahoo.com to my name & I'll send the photo. Where are you having the surgery? I had mine at NYU with Dr. Doyle and have been seizure-free since then (5 years).

Ann

Re: Is it best to shave your entire head?

Submitted by jyhprice on Tue, 2011-02-08 - 00:40

I've read about it on here both ways. If I was gonna decide to just shave it so that it would be clean and easy to care for afterwards, then I would just go to the barber and have them do it to save them trouble. It sounds great to do just as little as possible, but I'm afraid of not being able to see it heal correctly and having trouble with my hair growing in normal. I have very thin hair because I was on Keppra for so long so I don't know if it would really cover it all that well. I'm only 30 so I have plenty of time to regrow it. I am taking all the final tests for candidacy on March 13, and my doc has told me there is only a 5% chance of not being a candidate because of the fact that I already have bad memory problems and by where my seizures are located. I go to the Cleveland Clinic and it's a 4 hour drive for me. The docs have been terrific and I wouldn't go anywhere else. My doc told me that after my tests, the surgery will only be 1 or 2 weeks after that. I'm very scared but I have 2 kids that I need to get better for. My mom is raising them right now and it's very hard on me. Thanks for the advice. :)

Re: Is it best to shave your entire head?

Submitted by Tiffany K on Tue, 2011-02-08 - 17:15

I went through this issue just a while ago. I believe it's kinda up to the Drs, the facility and the exact type of surgery you have and they'll require you to either shave the entire head or no not.

I also had temporal Lobe surgery at Cleveland Clinic about 16 months ago. You're right, they are the best, it's a 10 hr drive for me but I wouldn't go anywhere else either! I was 27 and had long hair before my surgery. I wasn't thinking too much about the hair until a couple of weeks before the surgery. I finally remembered to ask and the neurosurgeon told me that the whole head would have to be shaved because...

1. I would have a T incision and if they only shaved where the incision was it would almost be in the top middle of my head anyway, and

2. especially with the length of my my hair there is just too much risk of getting a hair caught in the incision and possibly cause an infection or ingrown hair in the incision, basically it's better kept sanitary if all the hair is gone because your whole head is going to be wrapped up for a while.

It hasn't been so bad though, aside from the psychological trauma of a 27 yr old woman losing all of her hair that has never been cut shorter than shoulder length. I got to have a lot of fun with it, I wore wigs and colorful scarfs! When my hair started growing back I really liked the short hair look. I NEVER would have cut it if not for the surgery, but now I LOVE IT!!! It's so much easier to manage and to my surprise I look pretty good with short hair. Also, if you have a good insurance plan, contact them about paying for a "cranial prosthesis" (wig), I have Aetna Insurance and my Dr. wrote a note explaining the situation and my insurance ended up paying for a majority of the wig.

I got to keep my hair until the day of the surgery. The nurse didn't shave it until I was completely under anesthesia for the surgery to save me a bit of extra trauma, and she assured me that she would do a good job. I felt very comfortable with the neurosurgery team at Cleveland Clinic. Another thing you may want to consider is donating your hair to "Locks of Love" or some other similar organization, I know it has to be a certain length, unfortunately mine was just a bit too short otherwise I would have.

If anything please remember IT DOES GROW BACK!!! It may take a while but it will come back, and I think it's easier and safer to have it all come back at the same length. I have very thin hair too, always have, but when mine started growing back after the surgery it actually grew in a little thicker, but it also grew in with some gray patches. I don't know if that was from the surgery or if it was just my time to get gray hair, but a $5 box of hair color fixed that!

I wish you the best of luck and hope everything goes well and you have a quick and healthy recovery!

Good Luck,

Tiffany K.

I went through this issue just a while ago.  I believe it's kinda up to the Drs, the facility and the exact type of surgery you have and they'll require you to either shave the entire head or no not.  I also had temporal Lobe surgery at Cleveland Clinic about 16 months ago.  You're right, they are the best, it's a 10 hr drive for me but I wouldn't go anywhere else either!  I was 27 and had long hair before my surgery.  I wasn't thinking too much about the hair until a couple of weeks before the surgery.  I finally remembered to ask and the neurosurgeon told me that the whole head would have to be shaved because... 1. I would have a T incision and if they only shaved where the incision was it would almost be in the top middle of my head anyway, and 2.  especially with the length of my my hair there is just too much risk of getting a hair caught in the incision and possibly cause an infection or ingrown hair in the incision, basically it's better kept sanitary if all the hair is gone because your whole head is going to be wrapped up for a while. It hasn't been so bad though, aside from the psychological trauma of a 27 yr old woman losing all of her hair that has never been cut shorter than shoulder length.  I got to have a lot of fun with it, I wore wigs and colorful scarfs!  When my hair started growing back I really liked the short hair look.  I NEVER would have cut it if not for the surgery, but now I LOVE IT!!! It's so much easier to manage and to my surprise I look pretty good with short hair.  Also, if you have a good insurance plan, contact them about paying for a "cranial prosthesis" (wig), I have Aetna Insurance and my Dr. wrote a note explaining the situation and my insurance ended up paying for a majority of the wig.   I got to keep my hair until the day of the surgery.  The nurse didn't shave it until I was completely under anesthesia for the surgery to save me a bit of extra trauma, and she assured me that she would do a good job.  I felt very comfortable with the neurosurgery team at Cleveland Clinic.  Another thing you may want to consider is donating your hair to "Locks of Love" or some other similar organization, I know it has to be a certain length, unfortunately mine was just a bit too short otherwise I would have.   If anything please remember IT DOES GROW BACK!!!  It may take a while but it will come back, and I think it's easier and safer to have it all come back at the same length.  I have very thin hair too, always have, but when mine started growing back after the surgery it actually grew in a little thicker, but it also grew in with some gray patches.  I don't know if that was from the surgery or if it was just my time to get gray hair, but a $5 box of hair color fixed that! I wish you the best of luck and hope everything goes well and you have a quick and healthy recovery!  Good Luck, Tiffany K.