An FUE hair transplant in Islamabad with Dr. Umbreen Munir Minhas removes donor hair one follicle at a time, so you can wear your hair short without a visible strip scar.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Umbreen Munir Minhas, MBBS, FCPS (Plastic Surgery). Last updated October 2026.
FUE stands for follicular unit extraction. Each group of 1 to 4 hairs is cut free with a tiny round punch, usually 0.8 to 1.0 mm wide, and lifted out.
FUE describes how grafts are taken. DHI also uses FUE extraction and differs only in how the grafts are placed.
FUE leaves tiny dot marks spread across the donor zone instead of one line. Men who keep a short fade or buzz cut often prefer it.
A strip method needs loose scalp skin to close the wound. When the scalp is tight, single extraction is the safer choice.
Filling a temple corner or thickening a previous transplant needs only a few hundred grafts, which FUE harvests easily.
When scalp donor hair is limited, a punch can also take hair from the beard or chest, which a strip cannot do.
The punch is turned by hand, giving fine control in curly or fragile hair. It is slower, so sessions are usually smaller.
A small motor turns the punch, which speeds up large sessions. Careful speed settings keep follicle damage low.
After extraction, tiny slits are made for the grafts. Sapphire blades are one option for these slits, not a different extraction method.
Grafts taken by FUE can also be placed with an implanter pen instead of premade slits. Read about DHI
The donor area heals with small dot scars that hide under hair a few millimetres long. Your safe donor zone is a fixed supply, so careful extraction keeps grafts for the future. Photos below are shared with consent.
Dr. Umbreen measures donor density and hair thickness under magnification. The safe zone usually holds about 65 to 85 follicle groups per square centimetre.
The donor area is usually trimmed short on the day. Stop aspirin 2 weeks before and avoid alcohol for some days beforehand.
Under local anesthesia, grafts are punched out evenly across the donor zone so no patch looks thin. They are kept cool and moist until placed.
You go home the same day. The donor area is covered lightly overnight and the small dots ooze a little on the first evening.
| Time After Surgery | What to Expect in the Donor Area |
|---|---|
| First 2 to 3 days | Tender, with small red dots where grafts were taken. |
| About 1 week | Dots crust over and close as you wash gently. |
| Following weeks | Trimmed hair grows back and covers the marks. |
Sleep on a clean pillow cover and avoid scratching. For how the transplanted hair grows month by month, see the hair transplant page.
The main FUE risk is cutting through follicles during extraction. In one study of 0.9 mm punches, damage rates were 23.9% with sharp, 18.8% with serrated and 14.5% with blunt punches.
FUE cannot increase your donor supply. Every graft taken is gone from the donor zone for good, so the plan must leave enough for future needs.
Your fee is confirmed after consultation, once the number of grafts is planned. Ask for one written estimate that states the graft count.
| Factor | How It Affects Your Fee |
|---|---|
| Number of grafts | FUE is usually priced per graft. |
| Punch method | Manual extraction takes longer than motorised. |
| Slit blades | Sapphire blades may add to the price. |
| Implantation | Pen implantation costs more than slit implantation. |
An FUE transplant quoted at a very low price may count single hairs as grafts, so ask how grafts are counted.
Hair transplant is listed on her public profile, and protecting a limited donor area is part of every plan she makes. Women considering hair restoration may also prefer a female surgeon.
Both use the same permanent donor zone. The difference is how the donor hair is removed from it.
| Feature | FUE | FUT Strip |
|---|---|---|
| Donor removal | One follicle group at a time | A thin strip of scalp |
| Donor scar | Many tiny dots | One line about 1 to 5 mm wide |
| Grafts per session | About 2,500 to 3,000 | About 3,500 to 4,500 |
| Graft survival | About 91% in a large review | About 90% in the same review |
| Short haircuts | Possible | Line may show |
Survival is almost the same, so the choice usually depends on your hairstyle and how many grafts you need.
Dr. Umbreen sees patients privately at Omer Diagnostic & Specialist Clinics (ODC), 12-A, LG Floor, CBC Plaza, G-8 Markaz, Islamabad, Monday to Friday, 3:00 to 5:00 PM.
Bring details of any earlier transplant, including the clinic and number of grafts, so remaining donor hair can be assessed.
Usually only the donor area at the back is trimmed short. Small sessions can sometimes be done by trimming narrow strips hidden under longer hair.
The follicles taken do not regrow, but the hair left around each dot grows normally and covers the area. Even spacing keeps the donor area looking full.
Yes. Beard hair is thick and often blends well into the crown. Chest hair is finer and less reliable, so it is used only when scalp supply runs low.
Often, yes, if enough donor hair remains. Sessions are usually spaced many months apart so the first grafts and the donor area can fully settle.
It is standard FUE where the slits for the grafts are made with sapphire blades instead of steel. The extraction step is exactly the same.
They are not rivals. DHI uses FUE to remove grafts, then places them with a pen. The right choice depends on the placing method, not the extraction.
Patient guides on hair transplant from Dr. Umbreen’s blog.
Most patients need between 1,500 and 4,000 grafts for a hair transplant, depending on how much hair has been lost, the size of the area being covered, and the density the patient wants to achieve. Early-stage hair loss may need
The main difference between FUE and FUT hair transplant lies in how the donor hair is harvested. FUE, or Follicular Unit Extraction, removes individual hair follicles one at a time through tiny circular punches, leaving small dot scars scattered across
A hair transplant is a surgical procedure that permanently restores hair to thinning or bald areas by moving healthy hair follicles from a donor zone, typically the back or sides of the scalp, to areas where hair has stopped growing.
