First published: December 2025 · Last updated: September 2026
The slit technique is an implantation method where recipient sites are created before graft placement. It allows controlled angle, depth, and spacing, supporting efficient implantation, but requires accurate planning to avoid density errors or vascular compromise.
Key Facts
Slit techniqueAll recipient sites cut before grafts are placed
SagittalRuns front to back, parallel to hair flow
CoronalRuns side to side, across hair flow
Coronal strengthFiner control of hair direction
Sagittal strengthLess risk to existing native hair
Main limitationSites stay open while grafts wait
The slit technique separates two jobs that can otherwise collide. All recipient sites are cut first, then grafts are placed into them. Because the design exists before a single graft is handled, angle, direction, spacing and depth are decided while the surgeon can still see the whole field — and placement afterwards becomes a fast, repeatable step.
A slit is a line, and the line can run two ways relative to the hair around it.
Slit orientation is the real variable. A slit is a line, and the line can run in two directions relative to the head.
Sagittal
Coronal
Runs
Front to back, parallel to hair flow
Side to side, across hair flow
Strength
Slides between existing hairs with less risk to them
Holds the graft broadside, giving finer control of direction
Trade-off
Less control over lateral fanning
Higher risk to native hair in a thinning area
The blade is chosen to match the graft, not the marketing. Sites are made with custom-cut blades, needles or crystal-tipped blades, sized to the graft that will go into them. A site wider than the graft leaves it loose; a site narrower crushes it on entry.
Its limitation is time. Sites are open while grafts wait, so the sequence has to be organised around keeping that interval short. Where sites are made and filled in the same motion with an implanter, that interval disappears — a different trade, not a better one.