FUE leaves thousands of dot scars under 1 mm. Whether you ever see them depends on punch size, spacing and how short you cut your hair.
Every extracted follicle leaves a circular scar the diameter of the punch — typically 0.7–0.9 mm. Thousands of them heal as white dots. At hair length above 3 mm they are invisible; shaved to skin, they can be seen in bright light.
Large punches, extractions clustered too closely, and harvesting outside the safe donor zone. This is where the damage from a technician-run clinic shows up years later, long after the initial result looked fine.
FUT (strip) leaves a single linear scar across the back of the head, which is why it has largely been replaced. It still has a role in very large sessions for patients who never wear their hair short.
Scar camouflage with FUE grafts into the scar tissue, or scalp micropigmentation, can both reduce visibility significantly. Neither restores the follicles that were taken.
At 1–2 mm the dot scars may be faintly visible in strong light. If shaving completely is important to you, say so before we plan punch size and spacing.