FUE, DHI and FUT Explained

Clinics advertise a long list of technique names. Most describe variations on two underlying methods of getting hair from the back of the head to the front. Understanding the difference makes clinic marketing much easier to read.

FUT: follicular unit transplantation

A strip of scalp is removed from the back of the head, and the follicular units are dissected out of it under magnification and placed into the recipient area. The donor site is stitched closed, which leaves a linear scar across the back of the head.

FUT is the older method. It is still used, and some surgeons prefer it for large sessions because a strip can yield a lot of grafts in one sitting. The trade-off is the linear scar, which is concealed by hair of moderate length but visible if the head is shaved.

FUE: follicular unit excision

Follicular units are removed individually from the donor area with a small circular punch, typically under a millimetre across, and placed into the recipient area. Instead of one linear scar, this leaves many small dot scars spread across the donor region, which are generally less visible at short hair lengths.

FUE is now the more commonly advertised method. It takes longer per graft than dissecting a strip, and the quality depends heavily on the skill of whoever is operating the punch, because follicles can be damaged during extraction.

DHI: direct hair implantation

DHI is a variation of FUE. In standard FUE, recipient sites are cut first and grafts are then placed into them. In DHI, an implanter pen holds the graft and creates the site as it places it, in one action.

Clinics often present DHI as a distinct and more advanced procedure, and price it higher. It is a placement technique, not a different operation. Its advocates argue it reduces handling of the graft and gives finer control of angle and density; others consider the difference in outcome small in skilled hands. Both positions are held by serious practitioners.

DHI is also a trademark as well as the common name of the technique, which is worth knowing when you read a price list: the letters on the page may be describing an implanter pen, or a brand, or both. A clinic using the term is not thereby affiliated with anyone.

Sapphire FUE

The same as FUE, with recipient sites opened using blades tipped with sapphire rather than steel. The claim is smoother incisions and faster healing. It describes an instrument, not a different method.

Why there are so many names

Many technique names are trademarks or marketing terms for a particular clinic’s version of FUE. Micro FUE, Bio FUE, Soft FUE, Perfect FUE and similar names generally describe the same operation with a brand attached. That does not make the clinic dishonest, but it does mean a name on a price list is not evidence of a different procedure.

How often each name actually appears

We read each clinic’s own website and record a technique only where the clinic itself says it offers it. Across the 4,657 clinics listed here, as of November 2026:

• FUE — 2,338 clinics (50.2 per cent)
• PRP — 1,507 (32.4 per cent), which is not a transplant at all; see below
• FUT — 1,016 (21.8 per cent), so the older method is far from gone
• Beard transplant — 979, eyebrow transplant — 816
• DHI — 815 (17.5 per cent)
• Sapphire FUE — 345 (7.4 per cent)
• Procedures aimed at women — 316; afro-textured hair — 189

Two things in that list are worth dwelling on. The first is that 1,781 of the clinics we list — well over a third — name no identifiable technique anywhere on their own website. A clinic that will not say in writing what it does is not necessarily bad, but it is a clinic you will have to ask.

The second is PRP. Platelet-rich plasma is an injection of a concentrate made from your own blood, intended to support existing hair. It transplants nothing, and a third of the businesses in this market offer it. Some offer it alongside surgery; some offer only it. If you are looking for a transplant, “hair restoration clinic” on a sign tells you less than you think.

What the name on the door does not tell you

Classifying these 4,657 businesses taught us something about names, which is worth passing on because it applies to your own reading. A name like “Ada Hair Clinic” says nothing at all: it could be a transplant surgery, a PRP room, a scalp micropigmentation studio or a hairdresser. We could only decide by reading the clinic’s own pages, and after doing that for every record we were still unable to verify what 768 of them do — 16.5 per cent — because their sites say nothing specific, or no longer answer. We label those as unverified on the listing rather than guess, and they are excluded from our “best” lists.

So: a technique name is a claim made by whoever wrote the website. It tells you what a clinic sells, not what it is good at, and on its own it is not even reliable evidence of the first.

What actually determines the result

The literature and practitioners broadly agree that outcomes depend far more on assessment, planning and execution than on which of these methods is used: whether the donor area can support what is being asked of it, whether the hairline is designed appropriately for a face that will keep ageing, the angle and density of placement, and how carefully grafts are handled outside the body. Those are questions for a surgeon who has examined you, not for a technique name.

Two of those deserve spelling out, because they are the ones that are hardest to undo. Donor supply is finite: hair moved to the front is hair no longer at the back, and a plan that empties the donor area in one session leaves nothing for the second procedure that continuing hair loss may make necessary. And a hairline is designed for a face that will keep changing — one placed low and straight looks best on the day and worst in twenty years. Both are planning decisions, made before any instrument is chosen, and neither is improved by a better punch.

Timing is also worth setting expectations on, because it changes how you read reviews and photographs. Transplanted hairs commonly shed within the first weeks, regrowth begins after a few months, and a result is normally judged at around nine to twelve months. Any account of an outcome written sooner than that — including a five-star review posted the week of surgery — is describing the experience, not the result.

Folliculis is a directory and information resource. This guide explains process and terminology so you can ask better questions. It is not medical advice, it is not a substitute for a consultation with a qualified doctor, and nothing here should be used to decide on treatment.