Introduction: In patients that cannot be intubated or ventilated by conventional means an emergency cricothyroidotomy is a potentially life saving intervention that is the common final pathway of difficult airway algorithms. Significant debate surrounds the ideal method of performing an emergency cricothyroidotomy. The literature remains divided between the open (surgical) and closed (wire assisted, or Seldinger) techniques. We feel that these two methods are not mutually exclusive and are proposing a novel "incision first" modification to the traditional Seldinger closed technique. Making a small (1 cm) incision prior needle insertion could facilitate localization of landmarks and may improve speed or success rate of the closed Seldinger procedure.