Modifications of Multi Slit Knife for enhanced versatility in balding and vertex area hair transplant

Abstract

In hair transplantation, recipient-site creation is an important step. It is a repetitive and time-consuming step, which increased the “out-of-body time” for the grafts, which could hamper their survival. To solve this problem, we had devised an instrument called the Multi Slit Knife (MSK). The MSK has advantages of creating a high-density brick pattern of recipient sites in significantly less time. It had the undesirable side effect of damaging the preexisting hair follicles while making slits in the balding region. The MSK had some limitations. It was also difficult to maneuver the MSK in the vertex region where maintaining the natural whorl pattern of hair is important to obtain optimal aesthetic results. To overcome the shortcomings of the original MSK, we made a few changes to it to make a new modified MSK. It has fewer knives and a smaller platform as compared to the original MSK, better ergonomics, and more customizability with choices for blade sizes, number, and spacing. It tries to retain the advantages of the original MSK while reducing the damage to the preexisting hairs in the recipient regions. It is also better adapted at creating the recipient sites in a whorl pattern, closely mimicking the natural direction and angles of the hair in the vertex region. The modified MSK can be used singly or in combination with the original MSK, based on the patient’s recipient areas, making it a versatile set of instrument for making multiple coronal slits for hair transplant.