A hair transplant is a surgical procedure in which hair follicles are taken from a “donor” area — usually the back of the head, which is more resistant to pattern hair loss — and placed into thinning or bald areas. It is performed under local anaesthetic by a hair-restoration surgeon, typically over several hours in a single session.
The two primary surgical techniques utilize distinct extraction methods: Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), which involves the extraction of individual follicular units one by one, and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), where a strip of scalp tissue is surgically removed and dissected into individual grafts. Modern variations, including Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) and Sapphire FUE, serve to refine the extraction or implantation instrumentation. FUE is frequently selected by clinicians and patients because the technique avoids the creation of a linear donor scar.