[Cranial surgery without shaving: practice and results in our hospital]

Hair removal or shaving, even if partial, increases mental anguish of patients, especially in female. Several reports demonstrating successful cranial surgery without hair removal led us to start cranial surgery with completely preserving hair. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate our methods and tips of cranial surgery without hair removal and to evaluate the rate of postoperative infection in these patients. We performed 82 procedures without shaving, including craniotomy for brain tumors, trauma, intracranial aneurysms and so on (n = 70), ventriculo-peritoneal shunt placement (n = 5), and other miscellaneous procedures (n = 7). All the patients were highly satisfied with the cosmetic results keeping their hair. We observed 5 patients whose wounds took relatively long time to be cured (6.1%), and 2 patients whose wounds were infected (2.4%). All infections were superficial and cured by the application of antibiotic ointment. There was no significant difference between the rate of wound complication in patients whose heads were shaven (5/82) and the rate in those whose head were not shaven (7/82). So we suggest that neurosurgery without shaving is safe, and does not increase the risk of severe wound infection. In addition, it helps patients to look normal and to start their routine earlier.