At my last appointment, I was told my referral for surgery should come through in December, and hopefully that would give me a date with a surgeon in 2016.  I'm worried about hair removal in the donor area, because my experience with laser and electrolysis has taken 12-18 months to completely clear other areas.

The doctor I'm seeing says the surgeon will tell me if I need hair removal, but that most patients don't need it anymore, because the surgeons just "scrape away the follicles" where needed.  Is that true, even outside of Thailand?

I don't want to wait until next year to see a surgeon just for them to say "Yes, you need hair removal", which would postpone my surgery another year or more.  Has anyone else pre-emptively had hair removal in the donor area?  What did you use for the excruciating pain?

Ask your surgeon ASAP if they want genital electrolysis. I know McGinn does but she is the only one that I know of.

Friends who have had it done have a local and clear the lot in a few sessions.

As Cindy says, ask.  If your choice of surgeon is already set in stone, he or she will tell you what to remove (or not remove) long before giving you a surgery date.

Seems like most surgeons these days do not require prior hair removal, and some actively advise against it.  It's a job they'd much rather perform thoroughly in the operating room themselves rather than leaving the job to someone else.  Genital hair removal is not the most pleasant process, and it's an added expense and chore that I for one would rather not have to sit through.

I would definitly consult the surgeon. The sooner you get started the better just because if they change the date you can take an earlier one if such an event happens also it allows them to make sure everything is being cleared properly. Mariah

Another vote for "depends on the surgeon." Brassard not only doesn't require hair removal, he advises AGAINST it; he says if you do have it done, there has to be at least a year between the final clearance and the surgery, because hair removal can weaken the follicles and make it harder for *him* to remove them.

(I had none done and no hair problems; there's one tiny hair right before the entrance to the vagina, but my wife has two of those, so I think that's an annoying-but-normal thing.)

I had none removed, I'm not very hairy naturally though but, as others say, it all depends in your surgeon. Only they can answer. You're right to preempt it though.

In my info pack for srs it had a diagram were to get hair removal done, and they recommended who could do it, i'd say I had about 20 hours done, something like that. had to stop  few months before surgery day. I had a couple of hairs pop up like 3 weeks beforehand and I freaked out and rang surgeon, and they said, doesn't matter we don't require any electrolyses. I was like agh contradictions

So probably need to update their info pack, that said it all depends how much hair you want down there, I'm going to get some more done to tidy things up.

As for pain, it hurts. They will have numbing cream there though it doesn't seem to make much difference, in the end I went without it as it makes it harder to see fine hairs.

Thanks for all the help, I haven't decided on a surgeon yet, but I guess I would feel more confident choosing one if I knew hair wouldn't be an issue. 

Quote from: Serenation on September 20, 2015, 08:41:02 AM
In my info pack for srs it had a diagram were to get hair removal done, and they recommended who could do it, i'd say I had about 20 hours done, something like that. had to stop  few months before surgery day. I had a couple of hairs pop up like 3 weeks beforehand and I freaked out and rang surgeon, and they said, doesn't matter we don't require any electrolyses. I was like agh contradictions

So probably need to update their info pack, that said it all depends how much hair you want down there, I'm going to get some more done to tidy things up.

As for pain, it hurts. They will have numbing cream there though it doesn't seem to make much difference, in the end I went without it as it makes it harder to see fine hairs.

When I asked he told me he thought he had removed that from his instructions! Obviously not!!

I had one laser session on perineum.

Then asked Chett what he prefered, and his secretary answered "avoid any hair removal".

So I'm avoiding any hair removal. I'll do it after surgery. I'm not stressed by time.

That post was just to say : even in thailand, they don't REQUIRE it and in fact sometimes advise against it.