Hair Removal Advice (for dogs)

[Tech_Penguin]

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Hey all, I'm on the vet-med side, but need derm-related advice, and I'm pretty sure physicians would know better for this case. So, for a K9 clinical trial, we need to remove as much hair as possible from the patient, as any remaining hair could cause skin-surface burns from our tumor ablation device. The patient is fully anesthetized throughout the procedure, including hair removal. However, we can't be too aggressive with hair removal, as that could also harm the skin.

We were originally using electric clippers + Nair (calcium thioglycolate + NaOH). But we found that KOH may be less irritating because it has a larger molecular weight and is more soluble, so less is needed to achieve the same alkalinity. So we ended up switching to Uttse bikini cream and then using an electric dermaplaning device to remove any extra hair. After, we cover the skin with cooled aloe vera. This has worked better, but there's more irritation than we'd like.

Any suggestions for improving upon this? The veterinary dermatologist was blanking because dogs never need hair removal to this extent. Laser/electrolysis is too time-intensive. Maybe an epilator or waxing, so we can also remove the root? And any other gel/cream that can be used for post-treatment recovery?

 

[asmallchild]

this is a new question 😂

when i'm prepping a surgical site, i prefer an electric razor but admittedly im not shaving down anything as hairy as a dog

i recommend cold Vaseline or petroleum jelly for post treatment recovery for human patients

 

[Dral]

I like your idea of waxing, especially since they will be anesthetized. I would say depending on the size of skin you are working with, I would clip down the hair to an appropriate length then wax, then apply something like the aloe vera you are using. I think the wax application would have a chance of causing less irritation than a dermaplaning device going across the skin. Another idea would be to just use a manual device instead of an electric dermaplaning device.