FUE OR FUT · FUE

FUE hair transplant: one operation, four names

Sapphire, DHI, robotic, suction. Clinics sell them as different procedures, at different prices. Each one changes a single part of the same operation — and most of what is claimed for them comes apart the moment you check.

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Claims for the four brand names with nothing behind them that holds up. The other 2 are weak.

Hand against robot91.4 / 83.2Hairs that grew per side, in the robot maker’s own study.

Sapphire prices1 of 58Clinic sites in Asia that print one. It matched plain FUE.

Who owns ARTASUnknownIts last owner went to court to force a sale, then stopped filing.

Every claim on this page was read from its source — the papers, the American regulator’s files, company filings and the brands’ own websites — on 16 October 2026.

01 — WHERE THIS LEAVES YOU

FUE is the default. The names are the product.

Whether FUE keeps as much hair as strip surgery has been tested on 7 people. FUE or FUT →
Strip surgery costs the same or less at every clinic we found that prints both prices. Strip surgery →
Who may take the grafts out depends on the country — since 2025, Turkey lets certified nurses and technicians do it. Who may operate →
The whole operation costs $525 in one country and $14,000 in another. Hair transplant cost →

02 — THE OPERATION

Every FUE does the same four things

Take grafts out of the back of the scalp. Keep them alive outside the body. Make holes where the hair should grow. Put a graft in each hole.

Each brand name changes one or two of those steps. Once you know which, you can judge most of what is said about it yourself.

01Take the grafts outfrom the back of the scalpARTASNeoGraft
02Keep them aliveoutside the body, for hoursNo brand
03Make the holeswhere the new hair will growSapphireDHIARTAS
04Place the graftsone at a timeDHIARTAS

Each brand name changes the step it sits under. No brand claims step two.

“Some physicians differentiate FUE in the marketplace by creating innovative-sounding acronyms or by highlighting their technique of implanting grafts. These terms are promotional and not part of the ISHRS FUE terminology.”
The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, 11 July 2026

03 — SAPPHIRE

A blade for the holes, sold as an operation

Sapphire FUE swaps the steel blade that cuts the holes for a sapphire one. That is the whole change, and it comes at step three — after every graft is already out.

So it cannot reduce graft damage, which happens at step one. The famous "25% faster healing" cites a paper PubMed has never heard of. And on twelve scalps in 2023, a plain razor blade did less damage than sapphire.

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Clinic websites we read across India, Thailand and South Korea. One printed its own sapphire price — the same as its plain FUE price.

04 — DHI

A survival figure, and its footnote

DHI loads each graft into a hollow pen that pierces the skin and drops it in. The pen is real — two Seoul surgeons described it in 1992, for hairlines and eyebrows. They made no claim about survival.

The brand does: over 90% with DHI, as low as 50% with FUE or strip. Follow the asterisk and you find who was measured — patients who came back to have a transplant corrected.

From DHI’s own website

FUTFUEDHIAbandoned by DHI in 2002Abandoned by DHI in 2010Developed by DHI in 2010Lower graft survival rate^**Lower graft survival rate^**Higher graft survival rate^**Performed by doctorsOftenly performed by techniciansPerformed by certified doctors

** Internal research based on patients who came to DHI for a correction session, showed that the growth rate with FUT and FUE (the percentage of implanted hair that survived) can be as low as 50%, while with DHI it is over 90%.

The asterisks lead to the footnote. The comparison group was patients who came back to have a transplant corrected.

05 — ARTAS

The maker never told the regulator it beat a hand

ARTAS is a robotic arm that picks grafts by camera, sold as more precise than a surgeon. Its maker has never said that to the American regulator.

Its own study, on thirty scalps split between robot and hand, set out to show the robot was not meaningfully worse. It passed — and more hair grew on the hand’s side. The clearance covers one group: men with black or brown straight hair.

Hairs growing at nine months, of 140 placed per side

Placed by hand91.4

Placed by the robot83.2

30 patients, the maker’s own study for its 2018 clearance. The stated aim was to show the robot was not meaningfully worse.

“Technician” in each robot clearance

20111K103428
20132K123154
20131K123548
20180K173358

Earlier filings had grafts placed by hand “by the physician or technician”. The word disappears in 2018 — the filing that cleared the robot to place grafts itself.

06 — NEOGRAFT

“FDA approved.” Its own seller deleted that in 2012.

NeoGraft’s suction punch has never been approved by the American regulator, or cleared by it. It never had to be: it is registered under a 1990 rule for powered surgical motors — drills, saws, burs — that exempts them from review.

Its distributor put "FDA APPROVED" on its homepage in 2009, and by 2012 was calling it the first minimally invasive approved system. Then the words came down.

The distributor’s homepage, as archived

January 2009
"FDA APPROVED" appears on the distributor’s homepage.
June 2012
"The first MINIMALLY INVASIVE FDA Approved Automated Hair Transplant System."
December 2012
Gone from the homepage. It has not come back.

The rule it is registered under (21 CFR 878.4820, 1990) covers a bur, chisel, dermabrasion brush, dermatome, drill bit, hammerhead, pin driver, and saw blade, and calls them “exempt from the premarket notification procedures”.

07 — WHAT THE NAME COSTS

In most of the world, nothing

A Gurgaon clinic prints its sapphire price directly under its FUE price. They are the same number. A Bangkok clinic lists FUE and DHI on one line, at one price.

Where a premium is real, it is buying something else. An Istanbul clinic sells three tiers of one operation, from €2,390 to €5,790. What changes is who holds the instrument.

Same clinic, plain FUE against the brand

WherePlain FUEWith the nameExtra

Gurgaon₹60–90Sapphire ₹60–90None

Gurgaon₹60–90DHI ₹75–120₹15–30

Bangkok80 bahtDHI 80 bahtNone

Each row compares a clinic with itself, in its own currency, so nothing is converted.

One Istanbul clinic, three tiers of the same operation

Technicians€2,390

A named doctor€3,290

The founders€5,790

The tiers are named for who holds the instrument, not for a technique.

08 — WHO OWNS THE MACHINES

Nobody can say who owns ARTAS or NeoGraft

Both machines belonged to one American company, Venus Concept. In June 2025 it agreed to sell them, with its California plant, for $20 million.

The sale stalled. Within eight months the company had gone to court to force it, warned it might not survive, and deregistered its shares. It has filed nothing since. Clinics still advertise both.

Venus Concept, from its own SEC filings

June 2025
Agrees to sell its whole hair business — ARTAS, NeoGraft, the California plant — for $20 million.
November 2025
Asks Delaware’s Court of Chancery to force the sale through, and reports substantial doubt about its own survival.
January 2026
Leaves the stock exchange.
February 2026
Deregisters its shares. No filing since.

09 — EVERY CLAIM, CHECKED

The scorecard

These are the claims made for the four names often enough to matter, each read back to its source. Where somebody independent has tested one, that is noted too.

Nobody ran the comparison. Everybody sells the answer.

The claims, and what stands behind each

SapphireSapphire reduces graft damageNothing behind itDamage happens as grafts come out. The blade is only used afterwards.
SapphireYou heal up to 25% fasterNothing behind itThe paper cited is not in PubMed. In a 2023 test, a razor blade did less damage.
Sapphire94.7% of sapphire grafts survive, against 88.9% with steelWeakOne author, 2026. No p-value for the blade comparison itself.
DHIOver 90% of grafts survive with DHI, as few as 50% with FUE or stripNothing behind itMeasured on people returning for corrections. A 191-patient study found no difference.
DHIDHI means you are not shavedNothing behind itShaving depends on how grafts come out. The pen only puts them in.
ARTASThe robot is more precise than a surgeon’s handNothing behind itIn its maker’s own study, more hair grew on the hand’s side.
ARTASA 6.6% transection rateWeakIts source gives a range of 0.4% to 32.1%. The range is always dropped.
NeoGraftNeoGraft is FDA approvedNothing behind itNever approved or cleared. Its seller deleted the claim in 2012.

10 — QUESTIONS

What people ask

Is sapphire FUE better than regular FUE?

There is no good evidence that it is. The blade only cuts the holes, after the grafts are out, and a 2023 study on twelve scalps found a razor blade did less damage. Of 58 clinic websites we read in India, Thailand and South Korea, one printed a sapphire price, and it matched that clinic's plain FUE price.

Is DHI better than FUE?

DHI's own survival figure comes from its internal research on patients who came to it for a correction session. A 2025 study of 191 patients at four hospitals found no difference in survival between making the holes first and making each one as the graft goes in.

Is a robotic hair transplant more precise?

The maker of ARTAS never told the American regulator it was. Its own study set out to show the robot was not meaningfully worse than a hand, and more hair grew on the hand-implanted side: 91.4 hairs against 83.2.

Is NeoGraft FDA approved?

No. It has never been approved or cleared, and it never needed to be: it is registered as a powered surgical motor under a 1990 rule that exempts such motors from review. Its distributor removed "FDA approved" from its own homepage in 2012.

Does DHI mean no shaving?

No. Whether you are shaved depends on how the grafts are taken out, not on the pen that puts them in. A 2026 paper in Dermatologic Surgery says loose use of these terms in advertising undermines informed consent.

11 — THE REST OF THE REPORTING

FUE or FUTWhich keeps more hair — and why nobody knowsREAD →FUTThe strip method, and what it costsREAD →Hair transplant costSeven countries, priced and sourcedREAD →

Get your own number before you ask for a quote

Every price on this page is a rate. What you actually pay is that rate multiplied by how much work you need — and right now the only person estimating that is the clinic selling you the work. hairtrack measures visible scalp zone by zone from your own photographs, so you walk into the consultation already knowing.

One email when we open. Maybe a couple more in case we land in your promos folder.

12 — REFERENCES