Slit Grafting: The Use of Serrated Island Grafts in Male and Female‐Pattern Alopecia

Abstract

Successful aesthetic treatment of earlier thinning of scalp hair in men and women has necessitated the development of alternatives to traditional punch grafting. The hair-bearing "serrated island" remaining between two parallel rows of round donor sites can be removed and dissected to yield a large number of "serrated island grafts" and single-hair grafts. These miniature grafts, along with half grafts from bisected plugs, can be placed, in one or several sessions, into dozens to hundreds of small "slits" between the remaining hairs in patients with early or advanced thinning on the crown, vertex, or anterior scalp--hence the name "slit grafting." The versatility of this technique is demonstrated by its value for patients with dark hair and light skin, in repair work, in patients necessitating extensive vertex coverage, or in combination with alopecia reduction and traditional punch grafting. The finely tufted progressive growth from hundreds of these carefully placed slit grafts can thus counteract further hair loss in a variety of different situations.

Elliptografting: The Right Fit

“…[1][2][3] Previous hair transplant micrograft and minigraft options include No-Kor needle punctures, slit grafting, conventional round grafts, square grafts, rhomboid grafts, and more recently, slot grafts ( Figure 1). [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] With the application of the concept of the follicular unit and the use of micro-and minigrafting technologies, large transplantation sessions employing 1000-2000 follicular grafts have now become a reality. [13][14][15][16] Linear slits and slots have become the morphology of choice for creating recipient micrograft sites ( Figure 2).…”

Dispelling the Myth of the Required High Hairline in Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation

“…Shortly afterwards, others like Lucas, 3 Swinehart and Griffin, 4 Stough et al, 5 Brandy, 6 and Uebel 7 created variations on Bradshaw's theme. The idea of inundating the frontal hairline with one‐ and two‐haired micrografts was initiated by Marritt.…”

The tumescent technique facilitates hair micrografting

“…Using this technique 1-3-mm slits are made in the scalp for the insertion of small micrografts (one to two hairs) or minigrafts (three to four hairs). The popularity of the micrografting techniques attest to their superior end-result and have been our choice for hair restoration surgery during the last 4 years [1,5,6,9,10]. During this procedure an occipital donor site is anesthetized, allowing harvest of a significant strip of scalp that is subsequently divided into small micro-and minigrafts.…”