01
You clip the sides very short
At a number two guard or shorter, scattered dots conceal better than a line.
Technique
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE 2.0)
Individual follicular units removed through a 0.9 mm punch — no linear scar, and a smaller wound footprint than standard FUE.
Punch size is the whole argument
FUE removes follicular units one at a time with a circular punch. Every extraction leaves a round wound that heals as a small white dot, and the area of that wound grows with the square of the punch radius — so the difference between a 1.2 mm and a 0.9 mm punch is not twenty-five percent, it is closer to half the damaged skin.
Across two thousand extractions that difference decides whether the donor area can still be clipped short afterwards. The trade-off is that a smaller punch demands a steadier hand and a slower pace: get it wrong and you transect follicles instead of freeing them.
- 0.9 mm
- Punch diameter used at NHT
- ~44%
- Less wound area than a 1.2 mm punch
- 1–4
- Hairs per extracted unit
- 0
- Linear donor scars
When FUE 2.0 is the right choice
02
The case is small or targeted
Temple rebuilding, scar camouflage, eyebrow or beard work.
03
Donor laxity is poor
A tight scalp closes badly after strip harvesting; extraction avoids the issue entirely.
04
You have had strip surgery before
FUE can harvest around an existing closure without revisiting it.
What FUE cannot do
It cannot match FUT 2.0 for single-session yield, because the donor area has to be spread thin to protect the look of the back and sides. It also costs more donor supply per transplanted hair when punches are large or technique is rushed, since every transected follicle is spent from the same finite budget.
Any clinic that recommends FUE to every patient is selling a brand, not a plan.
Talk to the surgeon who would perform your procedure
Consultations are free, measured and without obligation — in Newport Beach or by video.