Hair transplants: FUE, FUT, DHI

You’ve spent a whole evening scrolling through before-and-after photos. One clinic has sent you a quote, another talks about “scarless DHI”, a third swears FUE is the only modern option. Three acronyms, quotes that look nothing alike, and one question left: what actually changes from one technique to the next? In the UK, the NHS puts the price of a transplant somewhere between £1,000 and £30,000¹.

The principle: moving hair, not making it

A transplant doesn’t create a single hair. It moves follicles (the small pockets in the skin that hairs grow from) from the back of the head to the thinning areas¹. Hairs at the back resist the hormones that push back the hairline and thin the crown. Once transplanted, they keep the characteristics of the area they came from². Surgeons call this “donor dominance”³.

The direct consequence: you can only redistribute what you have. The European guideline puts it plainly: bald areas can be covered for good, but at a lower density than they once had³. The American Academy of Dermatology sums up the goal like this: a full head of hair may be unrealistic, a fuller head of hair can be the aim⁴.

FUT, FUE, DHI: what changes

Whatever the technique, hair is transplanted in small natural groups of 1 to 4 hairs, called follicular units¹. What sets the techniques apart is mostly how those units are harvested.

FUT, or the strip method: a thin strip of scalp is removed from the back of the head, cut into grafts, and the wound is stitched. It leaves a linear scar, usually hidden unless the hair is cut very short¹.

FUE: the back of the head is shaved and the grafts are removed one at a time. It leaves lots of tiny scars that aren’t very noticeable¹. It takes longer, but there’s no linear scar, which suits people who wear their hair very short⁴. Two hair transplant surgeons point out that these small scars add up with each new session, and that only about one follicle in five can be taken from any given area⁵.

A 2025 review concludes that strip harvesting and FUE are both state-of-the-art techniques⁶. The choice depends on your haircut and how much donor hair you have.

DHI isn’t a third way of harvesting. The grafts are removed as in FUE, then placed with an implanter, a kind of pen, instead of being slipped into incisions made in advance⁷. The grafts spend less time outside the body⁵. Neither the NHS nor the AAD presents it as a separate technique¹⁴.

Are you a candidate?

You need two things: enough healthy hair at the back, and a thinning area that can still grow hair⁴. A transplant suits inherited baldness, not the round bald patches of alopecia areata¹.

The French Society of Dermatology mainly reserves transplants for hair loss that has stabilised, usually in people over 30². Spanish dermatologists advise against it in young people, and when hair loss is progressing without having been treated⁸. For men in their twenties, the AAD says you may be asked to wait and start a treatment first⁴. If the hair loss carries on, the transplanted hair ends up in the middle of an area that keeps thinning. If you notice your hairline receding very early, talk it through with a doctor before you contact any clinic.

For women, a transplant can be considered for some forms of stabilised female pattern hair loss, provided there’s enough donor hair and no diffuse shedding going on³.

Lastly, a transplant doesn’t treat hair loss. It doesn’t stop the hair that wasn’t transplanted from falling out, and the French Society of Dermatology recommends pairing it with a treatment that slows hair loss²: your doctor can suggest one.

The day of the transplant and the weeks after

The procedure is done under local anaesthetic, often with a sedative: you stay awake and feel no pain¹. It takes 4 to 8 hours⁴, with no overnight stay. A large area may need two or more sessions on different days¹.

For the first few days, your scalp feels tight, sore and swollen, with temporary scabs. After that¹:

• bandages come off after 2 to 5 days, and you shouldn’t touch the grafts;
• you can gently wash your hair by hand from day 6;
• non-dissolvable stitches come out after 10 to 14 days;
• expect 1 to 2 weeks off work, and less exercise in the first month.

When will you see results?

Between 2 and 8 weeks after surgery, the transplanted hairs fall out. Around the third month, the area may even look thinner than before. The AAD says this is normal⁴.

New hair usually appears after 4 months, and the full result takes 10 to 18 months¹. Most patients see results between 6 and 9 months, some at 12 months⁴. The European guideline places the final assessment at 9 to 12 months³.

On a forum, men who had the surgery describe those first weeks⁹:

Testimonials posted on the HairLossTalk forum⁹.

Cost and risks

In the UK, a hair transplant is cosmetic surgery and isn’t available on the NHS. Private prices range from £1,000 to £30,000, depending on how much hair you’ve lost, the type of procedure and the quality of the clinic and team¹.

Beyond the first few days, the risks are small but real: bleeding, infection, an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic, grafts that don’t take, or a noticeable scar¹. A case published in 2023 describes a 53-year-old man who had surgery in Panama and was then treated for months for an infection that resisted the usual antibiotics. The authors note that these infections after surgery abroad are being reported more and more¹⁰.

As for the evidence, the European guideline found that only 3 studies out of 77 met its quality criteria. It still considers that a successful transplant can improve male pattern baldness by up to 3 stages on the Norwood-Hamilton scale, the scale that grades male baldness³.

Choosing who operates on you

The European guideline is clear: the result depends above all on the skill of the team³. The AAD advises choosing a doctor who understands hair loss and performs transplants regularly⁴. A dermatologist can also tell you whether you’re a candidate: here’s which doctor to see about hair loss.

The NHS suggests questions to ask before you sign anything¹, to add to the ones to ask your doctor:

• What are your qualifications, and how many transplants have you done?
• What is your complication rate?
• Which technique would you recommend for me, and why?
• What follow-up care do you offer?

Be wary of clinics that pay to appear at the top of search results¹. And ask who does what. For two hair transplant surgeons, technicians should never operate on their own; when they do the harvesting themselves, the safe limit of the donor area is sometimes exceeded⁵.

Tracking your transplant in photos, month by month

At month three, the mirror will tell you nothing has worked. By month six, you won’t remember what your scalp looked like before. Only comparable photos settle it.

Start before the surgery: same room, same light, same distance, dry hair. Photograph your forehead, temples and crown, then take exactly the same shots every week.

Calvap helps you do that. The ghost overlay shows your previous photo on screen so you can line up the same framing, and your 7 scalp zones sit on a single timeline. After a year, you compare your pre-surgery photo with today’s, taken in the same conditions. Your PRP sessions or treatment go in the journal, on the same timeline.