hairline surgery with long hair?

[jordanaa]

Hey, so I'm about to start transitioning and I know eventually I'll want to have hairline surgery. My question is do surgeons require you to shave your head for this or can they perform the operation with your hair grown out?

I'm also very new to this whole transition thing and any advice would be great! Also curious about HRT on the NHS and if there are any obstacles with that or if they will simply allow me to take hormones if I want to with their support? thanks everyone!

[Casady]

Hi Jordanaa,

I have that very same issue. I feel my hairline could be improved slightly by a hair transplant following my FFS last year as it still has a slight M shape. I had a consultation in London with a Hungarian hair transplant clinic the other week and was told that they would need to shave my head. However, I've seen cis women on RealSelf who haven't had their heads shaved (although they have shaved areas on the backs of their heads presumably covered by longer hair from higher up) so it must be possible.

Re the NHS, I take it you mean GP support should you obtain HRT privately? I use GenderGP for private HRT prescriptions and they liaise directly with my GP. My surgery texts me when I need a blood test and they send the results directly to GenderGP. If you do go down that or a similar route then of course get your GP to also refer you to a GIC but as I'm sure you're aware, the wait for that is long.

Casady

[jordanaa]

Thanks casady, i hope the transplant goes well if you choose to do that! Yeah when i googled and looked around i found conflicting answers as well. obviously i'd like to not have to shave my head for this as it takes so long for hair to regrow!

honestly with HRT the entire way of going about it seems confusing to me and I'm not sure how to start, I just want to start HRT as soon as possible but in a way that is effective and safe. I've seen GenderGP website before but not quite sure on how it works? I've heard the waits on the NHS are crazy long and I'm not willing to wait for all of that if I can avoid it!

I'm about to move to a different area so my GP didn't want to refer me as it'd mean me getting re-referred as soon as I moved. He recommended to just wait until I move then sign up to my local GP in the new area and talk to them about it.

what are your thoughts on this? thanks so much

[V M]

Hi Jordanaa 

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[Anne Blake]

I have had two rounds of hair transplants. In neither case was my head shaved. They removed a strip of donor hair which was then cut short and transplanted into the areas that were thin. The existing longer hair in the recipient areas were not cut at all. I do not know but I believe that this is the standard procedure.

[Dani]

I had Folicular Unit Extraction (FUE) for my hair transplant. The donor site was at the back of my head and that area was shaved to get the plugs needed for the transplanted hairs.

That was about 18 months ago and my hair at the back of my head has almost grown out to match the rest of my hair.

The transplanted hair is still somewhat short, but it should match the rest of my hair in another 6 months or so. Transplanted hair just takes a little time to get going again and I did have platelet rich plasma injections during the transplant procedure.

[Casady]

It's good to hear from others that a completely shaved head can be avoided, although I guess it also depends on whether you have enough or long enough hair to cover the donor area so that a partially shaved head looks no worse than a fully shaved one!

Thanks casady, i hope the transplant goes well if you choose to do that! Yeah when i googled and looked around i found conflicting answers as well. obviously i'd like to not have to shave my head for this as it takes so long for hair to regrow!

honestly with HRT the entire way of going about it seems confusing to me and I'm not sure how to start, I just want to start HRT as soon as possible but in a way that is effective and safe. I've seen GenderGP website before but not quite sure on how it works? I've heard the waits on the NHS are crazy long and I'm not willing to wait for all of that if I can avoid it!

I'm about to move to a different area so my GP didn't want to refer me as it'd mean me getting re-referred as soon as I moved. He recommended to just wait until I move then sign up to my local GP in the new area and talk to them about it.

what are your thoughts on this? thanks so much

GenderGP have a contact form on their website. If you fill that in, they get back to you and guide you on getting the process started. From memory, you must answer some questions by email and have two or three phone or Skype sessions with one of their counsellors (which you're charged about £50 each for if I remember correctly). You also have to provide the results from some fairly basic blood tests. Again, details are on their website. The normal NHS over 40's health check provides everything needed. If you're under 40, then hopefully you can convince your GP to agree to the tests if you explain why you need them. Failing that, there are private companies that can provide blood tests and I think GenderGP can arrange or recommend some. At some point you also have to pay a registration fee to GenderGP (again from memory I think £295) and, when they start prescribing HRT, a monthly admin fee of £30. On top of that, you have to pay for the medication itself, which is best obtained using an online pharmacy that they recommend. My prescriptions are each for three month's medication (and cost about £40 in total) and I have to have blood tests carried out every three months.

Regarding a GIC referral, if you're moving in the next few weeks then I guess okay to wait for your new GP, but any longer than that and I'd try to start the ball rolling now if that's what you want. Given the waiting time, I would imagine a lot of people move between referral being made and first appointment. I'm sure it's not difficult to update the GIC with new details assuming it isn't done automatically. Good luck!

Casady

[jordanaa]

thanks so much for answering my questions everyone. Do you find the shaved donor hair to be noticeable at all?? So glad to hear that it's possible to have this done without having to shave all of my hair off.

I'll contact GenderGP as soon as I move. So they don't actually supply the hormones themselves they come from other online pharmacies? You've been so helpful to me so thank you so much.

Oh and what are the waiting times like for a GIC appointment? I'm not relying on this appointment (or the NHS at all) but I do really want to get an appointment in

[Julia1996]

I would talk to different surgeons. I don't have experience with transplant surgery but I have dealt with the aftermath of brain surgery on clients. One lady had the entire right side of her head shaved. But the incision site was only about an inch in length. Of course I couldn't do anything to fix her hair. She just had to wait until the h as it on the the right side of her head. Another client stopped coming for several months because she had brain surgery for a benign tumor and they shaved her entire head. When her hair grew back and she started having her hair done again I noticed her scar and again it was tiny, about an inch long. Then last year I had a woman come in who had had brain surgery 3 weeks prior. Begore her surgery she had made it clear to the surgeon it was a concern for her how much of her hair would be shaved. Her head hadn't been shaved at all and I had to look for the incision site. The difference was that her surgeon had shaved the surgical site himself. He had gone under the rest of her hair and shaved a small patch of hair about 2 inches wide. The spot was easily covered by the rest of her hair. She told me the surgeon told her he never completely shaved anyones head and was careful only to shave as much as he needed to make the incision. He told her he did the shaving himself because the nurses tended to be clipper happy.

So I think it depends on who actually does the shaving. Before you have surgery I would suggest you talk to the surgeon and establish exactly how much hair needs to be shaved. Let the surgeon know this is a concern for you. Otherwise a nurse is likely to just shave all your hair. Good luck with your transplant.

[Kalandrina]

As some state before you can have it done and keep length of your hair, just depends on where and who performs the surgery.

[Megan.]

Hey, so I'm about to start transitioning and I know eventually I'll want to have hairline surgery. My question is do surgeons require you to shave your head for this or can they perform the operation with your hair grown out?

I'm also very new to this whole transition thing and any advice would be great! Also curious about HRT on the NHS and if there are any obstacles with that or if they will simply allow me to take hormones if I want to with their support? thanks everyone!

Regarding hair transplants there are two main types FUT (which Anne Blake) mentions. They take a strip of scalp, then use those hairs. This is an efficient use of donor hair, but can leave a linear scar where the strip us removed - though this is then covered by hair and not generally visible. There is also FUE where they take individual units from a donor area (typically back and sides) and relocate these where required. FUE usually requires shaving the head - and is what I had.
There is also UFUE or 'unshaven' FUE,  a few clinics do offer this, which also avoids shaving of the head.

For HRT as mentioned, GenderGP or GenderCare (a private gender clinic in London) are the fastest routes. HRT via the NHS only comes after the loooong wait for referral to a NHS gender clinic and their evaluation. Many trans* people will get referred to an NHS clinic, but seek HRT privately while they wait in the queue for the NHS to catch up. This will NOT prejudice your NHS treatment.

Also welcome to Susan's. I'm a transwoman in Hertfordshire. There are several of us on the site in the UK, and if you search around the forum you'll see lots of advice on dealing with the NHS and working with your local GP.

Good luck! X

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

[KristySims]

I have had 5 FFS consults and having the hairline moved is not the same as transplants. The OP asked about the hairline but I don't think anyone actually answered that question.  In all 5 consults they all suggested my hairline being brought down and it did not require any shaving. In fact 3 of the Dr's say they cut the skin just shy of the hair and stitch it back so you can barely see the cut or stitches.

[Casady]

Yes, you're right - I assumed OP was referring to transplant as, as you say, you certainly don't need hair shaved for hairline lowering surgery. I had mine lowered as part of my FFS in December and no hair was shaved. Incision was just inside the hairline when done, and now less than six months later any scar is virtually invisible.