FUE Instruments FAQ

An FUE (Follicular Unit Excision) punch is a small, precision surgical tool used to core out individual hair follicles from the donor area during a hair transplant. The punch creates a circular incision around the follicular unit, allowing it to be extracted with minimal damage to surrounding tissue.

Scharf FUE punches are typically available in diameters ranging from 0.6mm to 1.2mm, in 0.1mm increments. Smaller punches (0.6–0.8mm) are commonly used for finer, single-hair grafts, while larger punches (0.9mm+) suit coarser hair or multi-hair follicular units.

• Sharp punches have a smooth, fully sharpened cutting edge — ideal for straightforward extraction with minimal tissue trauma.
• Serrated punches have a toothed edge that helps grip and cut through tougher or curlier hair, reducing transection rates.
• Manual punches are hand-operated (not motor-driven), giving the surgeon direct tactile control, often used for smaller sessions or specific techniques.

Long-hair FUE typically uses specially designed punches (like Scharf’s Long Hair FUE Punches) that allow extraction without shaving the donor area, minimizing tissue disruption around the hair shaft while preserving the visible hair length for immediate cosmetic assessment.

Yes. Long-hair FUE requires a micromotor with oscillation mode, allowing you to control both the angle and speed of the punch’s reciprocating motion. This controlled oscillation reduces the risk of hair wrapping and follicle transection when extracting through longer, unshaven hair — something a standard rotation-only micromotor can’t manage safely.

The Scharf LongHair FUE Micromotor is built specifically for this, with an adjustable oscillation angle (180°–540°) and fully adjustable speed, giving surgeons precise control for consistent, low-trauma extraction in non-shaven procedures.

Punch size selection depends on hair caliber, curl pattern, and follicular unit density. Thinner, straighter hair generally allows smaller punches (0.7–0.8mm), while coarser or curlier hair may require slightly larger sizes (0.9–1.0mm) to reduce transection.

The Champion FUE Micromotor is a standalone handpiece-and-motor unit for standard extraction. The Combi 24 Micromotor Set is a fuller kit bundled with an additional handpiece and broader punch compatibility, aimed at clinics that want an all-in-one solution out of the box.

The E-Cube’s power base is cordless and rechargeable, giving you freedom from a wall power cord. The handpiece itself is still connected to that base by a cable — it is the power supply that is cordless, not the handpiece.

Extracting forceps are designed for removing grafts from the donor area with minimal trauma to the follicle. Implant (placing) forceps are shaped differently to allow precise, controlled placement of the graft into the recipient site.

Yes — our Extracting Forceps are available in a titanium-coated finish, which adds corrosion resistance and a smoother release surface for graft handling compared to standard stainless steel.

Sapphire blades are used for ultra-fine hairline incisions with minimal scarring, typically for recipient site creation. Blade holders are the reusable handles that hold sapphire or CTS blades in place during the procedure.

A Choi implanter (or “implanter pen”) is used in Direct Hair Implantation (DHI), allowing the surgeon to load a graft into the pen and implant it directly into the scalp in one motion, without pre-making a recipient site.

Yes — our Dermojet device delivers local anesthesia without a needle, reducing patient discomfort during the anesthesia stage of FUE and DHI procedures.

Scharf Instruments products are FDA-approved and manufactured under ISO 13485 (medical device quality management), ISO 9001 (quality management systems), ISO 14001 (environmental management), ISO 18001 (occupational health & safety), and ISO 17664 (medical device reprocessing) standards, as well as Turkish TSE certification.

Most Scharf surgical instruments — punches, forceps, blade holders — are reusable and designed to be autoclaved between uses, provided they’re within their effective sharp-life and properly sterilized. Sterilization boxes and trays are available to support proper reprocessing.

This depends on hair type and technique, but most clinics rotate to a fresh punch every 3000–6000 extractions, or sooner if transection rate visibly increases — dulling reduces cutting precision well before a punch becomes unusable.

Scharf FUE punches are manufactured from surgical-grade stainless steel to ISO 13485 quality standards, chosen for edge retention and reliable performance through repeated autoclave cycles.

Yes — our sterilization boxes and trays are designed for standard autoclave sterilization in line with ISO 17664 medical device reprocessing guidance.

Scharf Instruments ships from three regional locations — our USA warehouse, our Germany office (serving Europe), and our UAE office (serving the Middle East) — in addition to our headquarters and factory in Istanbul, Turkey, so most international orders ship from the closest regional facility.

Scharf Instruments ships to more than 95 countries worldwide via DHL and FedEx. If you don’t see your country at checkout, contact us directly at info@scharfmed.com.

For USA orders, duties are typically pre-paid so there are no surprise fees on delivery. For orders shipping to Mexico and South America from Turkey, the recipient is responsible for customs duties on arrival.

Clinics ordering in volume can contact us directly at info@scharfmed.com or by phone for clinic pricing on punches, forceps, and micromotor sets.

Contact our support team at info@scharfmed.com with your order number to discuss returns or exchanges — policies vary by product condition and region of purchase.

Our team has direct experience supporting surgeons at international conferences and workshops. Email info@scharfmed.com with your typical case volume and hair types treated, and we’ll recommend a starting kit.

Scharf’s team engages directly with surgeons at conferences and workshops and can provide guidance on punch/micromotor pairing and technique calibration — reach out to info@scharfmed.com to ask about training resources for your team.

The most common causes are: using the wrong punch tip style for the hair’s curl pattern (sharp instead of serrated on curly hair), a punch size that’s too small for the follicle, a dulled punch that’s overdue for replacement, and inconsistent extraction angle relative to hair growth direction. See our FUE Punch Buyer’s Guide for a full breakdown.

FUE involves extracting follicles with a punch and then manually placing them into pre-made recipient sites with implant forceps. DHI uses a Choi implanter pen to extract and implant in a more continuous motion, without pre-making sites with a blade. Clinics offering both techniques typically stock both extraction punches/forceps and Choi implanters.