Hey I feel the same as you with the defoliation of select fan leaves. I actually have done that to both of my OG Kush and give them both time to recover they will bounce back like nothing happened. I did that to my grow of white widow and I think I got pretty good yields for autos. Respectively this is what I got
Light air to the bottom of the plant I know and believe you will improve harvest
Check out my grow of OG Kush and see me take major leaves from her and seems like next day she bounced back