Hair RestorationSupply

Implanter Pen

An implanter pen is the pen-shaped device used in DHI to load a graft into a hollow needle and place it directly into the scalp in a single motion.

Incuram DHI implanter pen, 1.1 mm, shown from the side with the needle fitted
  1. 1Needle tip — the only part that enters tissue
  2. 2Tapered nose gives the surgeon sight of the entry point
  3. 3Body and grip; balance over a long session matters more than weight
  4. 4Plunger cap, colour-coded by needle gauge
DHI implanter pen, 1.1 mm. The cap colour identifies the gauge across the set.

An implanter pen is the pen-shaped device used in Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) to place a follicular graft into the scalp in a single motion. The graft is loaded into a hollow, sharply bevelled needle at the tip; the surgeon inserts the needle at the chosen angle and depth, then a plunger pushes the graft out as the needle withdraws — creating the incision and setting the graft in one step, without a separately pre-made recipient site. Familiar generically as a Choi implanter, it is the defining instrument of the DHI technique.

An implanter pen: the hollow bevelled needle at the tip receives the graft, the barrel guides depth and angle, and the plunger ejects the graft as the needle withdraws.

Implanter pen in practice

The needle is the part that decides fit. Its gauge must match the caliber and hair-count of the grafts being placed: too narrow and the graft is crushed or hard to load, too wide and it sits loosely and the incision is larger than needed. Clinics keep a range of gauges and switch by graft type, exactly as they would match a punch to a follicular unit. The implanter needle gauge chart sets out the gauge-to-millimetre relationship these needles use.

Pens come as reusable pens with detachable, replaceable needles or as fully disposable units. The plunger and spring mechanism must advance smoothly, because a sticky or inconsistent action bruises grafts and slows a team that may place thousands in a day. Loading is usually done by an assistant while the surgeon implants, so throughput depends on the whole set working together.

What buyers and professionals should know

Evaluate an implanter pen as a system, not a novelty. The load-bearing questions are needle sharpness and consistency, the available gauge range, how cleanly the plunger travels, and whether the mechanism jams under sustained use — the failure that most disrupts a DHI list. Sterile packaging and clear per-lot documentation matter as much here as on any implanted-contact device.

Reusable pens shift cost into cleaning and maintenance, and a worn or bent needle must be retired rather than nursed along; the practical upkeep is covered in the implanter pen maintenance guide. Because the graft passes through a fine lumen much like fluid through a cannula, smoothness of the internal path is not a cosmetic detail — it protects tissue. The broader device landscape sits in the DHI implanters hub.