Secondary prevention
While there are limited high-quality data for perineal hygiene and cleft hair removal by either shaving, laser, or depilatory cream following surgery for pilonidal disease, these conservative strategies are low risk and should be encouraged to minimize recurrence rates. Of note, razor/cream depilation in the immediate postoperative rate has been associated with a higher recurrence rate. One systematic review on postoperative hair removal showed that postoperative laser epilation was associated with a lower recurrence rate (9%) than razor/cream depilation (23%) and no hair removal after surgery (20%).[19]
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