Reducing Surgical Time: An Innovative and Versatile Instrument for Creating Multiple Brick-Pattern Sagittal Recipient Sites in a Single Stroke

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Recipient-site creation is a very important step in the hair transplant procedure as it ultimately decides the density, direction, and exit angle of the implanted hair and the final result of the procedure. It can be done with knives or needles. The slits can be <i>sagittal</i> (parallel to hair direction) or <i>coronal</i> (perpendicular to hair direction). For better visual density and coverage, the majority of hair restoration surgeons use sagittal slits. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Recipient-site creation takes up a significant amount of the surgeon9s time. A considerable reduction in surgical time for coronal slit creation has been described using a multi-slit knife.¹ A multi-slit knife for sagittal slits has not been described until this paper. Our technique reduces surgical time by the use of an innovative and versatile new instrument that enables the creation of single rows of equidistant “brick-pattern” sagittal slits of the same direction, angle, and depth in a single stroke. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The device that we have designed enables the surgeon to reduce the time needed for recipient-site creation while increasing precision. It is a versatile instrument that can be used with appropriate configurations in bald, thinning, and vertex regions. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> The vast majority of hair restoration surgeons typically use cut-to-size knife blades to create recipient sites, which is repetitive and time-consuming. Brick-pattern slits are preferred to minimize the “see-through effect,” which adds time and challenges.³ Our instrument is easy to assemble and use, and can create slits at desired density, depth, and angle.