Lateral Slit Technique is recognized as the single most important surgical breakthrough in hair transplant surgery since the follicular unit. This revolutionary surgical method, created by Hasson & Wong Hair Transplant Clinic (www.hassonandwong.com) for recipient site creation, is now used by leading hair loss clinics around the world. The lateral slit technique provides results that mimic nature and dramatically minimizes trauma in the scalp's recipient area.

Hair Transplants that Mimic Nature

The lateral slit technique is the only surgical method that is able to duplicate the alignment and distribution of hair as it occurs in nature. The result is the complete absence of plugginess seen in other hair transplant surgery techniques including standard follicular unit grafting.

The evolution of follicular unit hair transplants, which involves transplanting hair in its naturally occurring state, has proven to be an enormous step forward in achieving the most natural looking of hair transplants. Most hair restoration surgeons felt that once the technique of follicular unit hair transplantation had been developed nothing further could be done to enhance the final result of the hair transplant procedure. No attention however had been paid to the arrangement of follicles within the individual follicular unit and the plane of orientation of the follicular unit on the scalp. Hasson & Wong have proven that these factors can profoundly influence the final aesthetic result even more than the change from mini/micro grafting to follicular unit grafting.

To best understand this concept one needs to look at the way in which hair grows in nature: follicles appear to be lined up alongside of one another in a plane perpendicular to the direction of hair growth.

This arrangement enhances the area of scalp covered by the follicles as opposed to being arranged in random fashion or one follicle behind the other. In addition the follicular units often grow in lines perpendicular to the direction of hair growth. This optimizes scalp coverage and avoids redundancy of coverage, which will occur if the follicular units were arranged randomly or in a plane parallel to the direction of hair growth.

In addition, the angle and direction of hair growth can be precisely controlled allowing transplantation of areas previously regarded as too difficult or unsuitable for hair transplant surgery, i.e. the temple and sideburn zones.

Minimized Scalp Trauma

The incisions made by the Hasson & Wong Lateral Slit Technique are shallower than other incisions, thereby reducing trauma to the critical blood vessels deeper in the scalp. When grafts are placed in recipient sites in a saggital fashion the outward pressure exerted by each follicular unit and the pressures exerted by neighboring follicular units are cumulative. This build up of pressure within the scalp limits the number of follicular units that can be safely placed in a given area without risking compression or popping. When the grafts are placed in lateral slits there is free transmission of pressure to the outer surface of the scalp and the pressures of neighboring follicular units is not cumulative.

The Hasson & Wong Lateral Slit Technique also allows for less trauma to the recipient area than other techniques due to the use of custom cut surgical blades. These blades can range from .6mm to 1.2 mm in width and are cut to match the width and depth of the follicular unit grafts.

Summary

The Hasson & Wong Lateral Slit Technique provides:

• natural results mimicking nature
• greater control of graft placement and angulation
• less trauma to the recipient area