Trivial question about surgery

[arkansasfarmgirl]

Ok, so when I have translab surgery next week, how much of my hair are they going to shave?  I just got my hair done yesterday!!   

[krbonner]

You'd be surprised how often that question comes up!!  I certainly asked it before my surgery.  Here's a photo of me 6 days post-op after translab - you can see where it was shaved.  I had jaw-length hair at the time and when it was down you couldn't see the shaved area at all.



Katie

[arkansasfarmgirl]

Oh dear.  THAT'S going to be a PIA to grow out.  Especially with my, um, *blond* hair.   

[arkansasfarmgirl]

Seriously though, how do you cover that up to go out in public?  If my husband keeps doing all the grocery shopping, we're all going to starve to death!

Vonda

[JerseyGirl2]

Wow -- I had translab and didn't have anywhere near that much hair shaved off. My scar followed the line of my ear, was much closer to the ear, and did not go out as far or up as high as Katie's scar in the picture. Guess that proves that every surgeon has his/her own method. My AN was small (about 1.3 cm) -- if Katie's were larger (I don't know what size it was) that may have been a factor, too. I wear my hair short, tucked behind my ears, and had no trouble concealing the incision, which had dissolvable stitches. I "lost" a bit more hair for the BAHA implant, which was done at the same time as the AN surgery, but it grew back pretty quickly. In the scheme of things, I think most patients would agree that the hair issue is pretty minor.

Best wishes as you approach your surgery.

Catherine (JerseyGirl2)

[mimoore]

Hi Vonda,
I had retrosigmond and this is my incision. I was a hairstylist for 15 yrs so I shaved my own head. In the end I shaved more than I had to. I wore my hair shoulder length and even though I shaved too much the long hair on top hung over the incision.  Really unless there was a huge gust of wind no one could even tell I had surgery UNLESS of course they looked at my face. which is getting better and better.
Honestly you won't care for a bit. Concentrate on healing and surround yourself with postive energy.You will get through this and be stronger in the long run.
Michelle 

[bltfollis]

try being a guy with somewhat wavy hair that used to wear it very short, had to grow it out for the weirdest combover, as my hair gets longer my friends call me elvis, guess thats not so bad

bill

[calimama]

Hi Vonda...

Funny i had not even thought to worry about the head shaving part...until the morning of surgery and some technician mentioned that she would shaving little patches (like the size of a penny) on the back of my head (2 spots) to attach "markers" for surgery. I was like...take it easy back there! To this day i have no sense of where those spots even were.

I was so overwhelmed with everything the morning of, i forgot to tell the peeps in the OR to not shave too much... and they did shave a pretty big sized patch for the width of the incision. Still, my mom assured me that they would be doing what they need to to make sure to keep hair out (avoid invections). The great news is, no one has even seen the incision or shaved bit, unless i heaved up my hair (longer than shoulder, but not super long) to show this off. It is totally and completely hidden under the hair on top (and i had the retroS. surgery too). So you probably have nothing to worry about. Now 5 months out, it's amazing how fast that hair grows (but slower than the nerves to my face i guess 
I can't see myself wearing my hair up for a long time, and a pony tail now shows off my shag at the back. But really this part of the surgery was no biggie.

You will be just fine.

Trish

[Kaybo]

Vonda~
I, too, was a bit taken aback looking at Katie's photo - even back in the dark ages, they did not shave NEAR that much hair off and my incisoin was just like JG2 said hers was.  My tumor was very large so I guess that didn't matter.  My doctor actually told me my 1st visit NOT to cut my hair at all.  They just shaved that tiny strip (maybe an inch or less across) behind my ear and then used super-duper gel to spackle the rest down.  I was picking that stuff out for a month - even thru MANY washings!  Sounds like from Cheri's post that maybe they used something like that at House - I remember her saying she was trying to get something out.

It really isn't bad!

K

[leapyrtwins]

I had retrosigmoid and my docs didn't shave anywhere near as much hair as Katie's did 

Jan

[Sue Vogel]

I asked that question too, Vonda.  I have short hair and got a really good razor cut before my surgery.  They really didn't cut that much for my surgery.  For the first week, I found a simple wide head band completely covered my shaved area.   Long, narrow scarves wrapped twice around the head will cover the scar attractively.  There are some really cool stretchy headbands from the Sahali catalog that come in a whole bunch of colors.  I had made some wide headbands before surgery but didn't use them.   After I got my stitches out, I quit wearing the headbands and showed my trophy scar.  Few persons noticed.  I got a good haircut at four weeks and colored my hair.  Now you can't even tell.  I totally understand your concerns.  I did exactly the same thing.

SUE

[wendysig]

Hi Vonda,

I didn't take a picture, butr I had translab also.  The way my head was shaved looked much more like Michelle's than Kate's.  My doc shaved only from about the middle of my ear and back.  If your hair is longish, it should cover the shaved are without a problem.  I would also suggest asking your doc.  Maybe if you let him know how you feel, he'll be more likely to shave less.  I asked and my doc didn't seem at all surprised by the question.  If I remember right, and I think I do, he said he would be shaving an area about 2/3 the size of my palm and that the hair above it would cover it.  In fact, it was a little more, but not much and the rest of my hair covered it without a problem.

Best wishes,
Wendy

[NancyMc]

Okay, this is really disturbing.  Obviously, I won't change my plans, but when I consulted with Dr. McKenna this past Monday, I expressed my thrill that there would be no scar with translab as it is "through the ear".  He said, "Well, someone with a flashlight could look in your ear and see it."    So what's with the scar?  I have the same surgical team as Katie!  I suggested that they wouldn't even need to shave hair.  My brother does laparoscopy, surgery through the belly button to remove internal organs.  Guess I thought this was the same idea.  I'll be meeting with Dr. Barker on Monday and will get more information.
Nancy

[JerseyGirl2]

After I posted earlier about how different my translab scar and "hair shaving" were from Katie's picture I double-checked with my husband to make sure I was remembering correctly. He looked at Katie's picture and said he would never have recognized it as the same procedure. He said that even immediately after the surgery you could barely see my scar as it was literally just above my ear and followed its contour. And he agreed that I had much less hair shaved off (but as most people have said, this isn't that big a deal anyway). He said my scar is virtually invisible now, and of course the hair has long since grown back and been cut a bunch of times.

Nancy, I'm not sure of your description of the surgery as incising "through the ear" -- would "behind the ear" be more accurate?? As I said in my earlier post, it appears that different surgeons have different approaches. Please don't worry about the hair and scarring -- the hair will grow back and the scar will fade away.

Catherine (JerseyGirl2)

[NancyMc]

Thanks.  I won't worry.  I do form keloid tissue/scars, so it might be noticeable after it heals, but I'm not concerned about a scar.  I'm just surprised that Dr. McKenna said you would have to use a flashlight and look into my ear to see the scar.
Nancy