As many of you know, Dr. Ron Shapiro has been training his brother Paul Shapiro, M.D. full time over the past few years at his clinic in Minnesota.

Paul has been very fortunate to receive perhaps the most intensive and advanced hair transplantation training in the world under the guidance of his world renowned brother Ron Shapiro, MD. He also benefits from working with one of the world’s best staff as well.

About a year ago Dr. Ron Shapiro felt that Paul had attained the skill and knowledge to perform his own surgeries at the Shapiro Medical Group on his own. Since then Paul has been very busy performing numerous ultra refined follicular unit transplantations with excellent results, some of which have been posted by patients on this forum.

Dr. Paul Shapiro’s perfectionism and commitment to performing work as refined and natural as his brother Ron has earned him the trust and respect of the entire staff. His brother Ron has expressed his belief that Paul has a natural talent for hair transplantation and has worked hard over the past few years to earn a world class standing. Dr. Paul Shapiro has also earned considerable praise from his patients.

I have had the opportunity to see Dr. Paul Shapiro performing surgery and his technique and level of refinement looked very similar to his brother Ron’s. He also has the huge advantage of having a very experienced first rate staff helping him perform his surgeries.

I also had the opportunity to view many of Dr. Paul Shapiro’s before and after photos, including immediate post op photos. In my opinion, his results are ultra refined, natural and show excellent growth and density.

Dr. Paul Shapiro has attended the last four annual meetings of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) and is an active member who has published several articles on advanced hair transplantation. He is board certified by the American Board of Family Physicians and he is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management.

Dr. Ron Shapiro assures me that he is confident that his brother Paul has achieved both the level of skill and experience to deserve membership in the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

I agree and believe that it is time for Dr. Paul Shapiro to be granted membership in the Coalition.

I welcome any comments or feedback.

Pat

Pat,

I think that admitting Dr. Paul Shapiro into the coalition is well justified. Without reiterating everything that you already stated, I think that he has earned that distinction. We have seen unsolicited pictures from satisfied patients, we have seen and heard his contributions and insight on this forum, and he is still currently working with argueably the best HT surgeon and staff in the world. I like the fact that you did mention the staff as we sometimes overlook the importance. Without beiing too wordy he would get my vote.

Pat and NN, While I am a fan of the SMG, having had a procedure performed by Dr Rose in '02, I'm slightly hesitant to give Dr Paul Shapiro the thumbs up just yet. I had my third procedure performed by Dr Paul Shapiro on October 30, 2006. The surgery provided @1500 grafts to my crown...a thickening up procedure if you will. While the procedure itself was wonderful, from the first shot to the last graft, I've had some minor concerns afterwards. Aside from some shock loss at the donor site, the tissue was red and painful for sometime afterwards. In addition, I know Dr. Ron uses the tricho closure with staples but Paul chose sutures and I'm not certain the tricho closure was used. I'm waiting to hear from Matt Zupan to see if that kind of information is noted in my file. I've posted my concerns about these issues on this forum and it seems that many people are NOT familiar with Dr Paul's work just yet. I'm going to wait six months before I give him my vote of confidence. Simply because one brother is a top notch HT surgeon doesn't mean the other is too. If sibling skills were that evenly distributed to all of us, I'd be a Major League Baseball Player.

Pat...

Thank you for asking us about our opinion of Dr.Paul Shapiro.

I checked his brother's website but unfortunately did not find any work attributed to him. I checked this website but only found a small amount of information and patient photos of his work. Unfortunately between the two I was not really able to form an opinion.

It appears from the information you have provided that he has the credentials. Also being trained by his brother certainly is in his favor. I am sure that Dr. Ron Shapiro would not make such a recommendation of his brothers ability lightly, for by doing so it would reflect on his credibility.

Unfortunately at this time I could not favor a positive recommendation of his abilities solely on the fact there is not enough information available to make such a determination. I would suggest that we certainly keep an eye on his work and at some time in the future when a sufficient history of his work has been compiled, we again consider his membership.

I am confident that in time he will join our ranks as a valued member.

Thanks for sharing your concerns. It's also good to get feedback from an actual patient.

I agree that from a patient's point of view it is too early to judge the results of a surgery until 6 to 12 months later. Most patient's experience some degree of soreness and numbness in both the donor and recipient areas. So it's hard to determine if your post op experience is par for the course or not. I'd like to hear more if you have more details.

It would also be great to hear from other patients of his who would like to share their experiences, especially if their hair is now grown in.

I've also emailed Dr. Paul Shapiro and asked him to create a photo album showing some of his patient results. Based on the photos that I saw at their office, I believe that when forum members see these results they will be much more confident in Dr. Paul Shapiro's abilities.

It may take a few days to get these photos gathered together an online.

I welcome all input.

Thanks again, Pat

Hey Guys,

I think by now everyone knows how highly I regard Dr. Ron Shapiro. I think for someone who lectures, teaches, gives seminars, writes, and performs surgery at the highest level, he is pretty easy going, straightforward guy. I have spoken on the phone with him about about innumerous topics, and the suject of his brother has come up several times.

Leaving that for a moment.....

What we have to understand is this....
1. Dr. Paul has only learned the latest state of the art techniques from Ron. There has not been a "learning curve" because he started out doing ONLY ultra refined follicular unit grafting.
On top of that, Ron stands behind EVERY HT that is done at SMG, regardless of whether or not Paul or Ron himself performs the HT.

2. I completely understand the skepticism that comes with a new Doc on the block. I also understand that Dr. Shapiro really needs to update the website to show some new patients and patients of Dr. Paul's.

With all of this said, I would personally allow Dr. Paul to perform my HT, having NEVER met him, other than a quick hello, once.

That is how much trust and admiration I have for Ron.
I will certainly revisit this topic when I see Dr. Shapiro on Jan 3rd. I think it is important and I think we are robbing ourselves of a top-notch HT surgeon, should we not allow Dr. Paul into the Coalition.

I hope to have more information to share based on my conversations with Dr Ron and Matt Zupan.
I will also see if they have more patient before and afters to share with us, in order to put our membership at ease.

My vote is firmly Yes on Dr. Paul, but because I am such a fan of Dr. Ron's, I want to assure everyone that if I felt for a moment that Dr Paul was not worthy, I would certainly not recommend him and state why.

As always, I have only 1 vote, so I bow to the consenus of our membership.

Tom R--- the Trico closure has been shown to lose its efficacy after each successive surgery, producing consistant results on virgin scalps. Perhaps that is why Dr. Paul chose to use a standard closure for you and used sutures as opposed to staples. If you would like and you OK it, I would welcome the chance to speak directly with Matt Z, Ron or Paul about your situation and find out exactly what the reasoning behind his approach is?

Please let me know, and perhaps an email to Matt Z so he feels comfortable speaking with me about you would be in order of you agree.

Later guys!

Hey B, Thanks for the offer but I am well aware that Dr's Ron & Paul, Matt Zupan and all the rest of the staff at SMG are there for ALL of their patients. As a matter of fact, I've contacted Matt several times via cellphone during off work hours. I know they are a class operation otherwise I would not have subjected myself to a surgery at the hands of someone I have any reservations about. I could have had my last surgery done by Dr Ron but I was confident that SMG would not let me down. Hence my surgery with Dr Paul.

I am saying that you can't put the perverbial cart before the horse. Despite the fact that Ron has trained Paul and stands behind his work by putting not only his reputation but that of SMG on the line, one should be a little cautious in every case when their appearance is on the line.

As for the tricho closure issue, Pat-our inspiration, had this to say about his last surgery with Ron Shapiro. "He also used three internal sutures to reduce tension on the skin level sutures which were STAPLES. He also did a TRICHOPHYTIC CLOSURE to minimize any cosmetically visible scarring." Pat has had four surgeries to my much smaller three.

Now I know each case is different but with Paul's minimal experience, I would find it difficult for him to simply choose sutures and a regular donor scar closure when Ron himself uses the tricho closure in almost all of his current procedures. I do trust Ron, Paul, Matt and SMG but we all have to agree that it's OK to remain a little cautious with something of this magnitude on the line.

I am very pleased to have found this site when I did and everyone who has responded to an inquiry of mine has also been wonderful. We all have Pat to thank and I do many times over. I wish everyone well and look forward to sharing my opinions, perspectives and personal experiences to anyone willing to listen. Thanks to all of you and Happy Holidays!

Great! Glad you are confident and yet cautious.

Glad that you have spoken with Matt and everything is in working order.

I understand that the Trico closure was performed on Pat, but each patient is different.

I should also amend my earlier statement on the Trico closure to state that the OPTIMAL results are achieved on a virgin scalp, with each successive surgery lessening its effectiveness. This is not to say that the Trico has no use or effectiveness, it is just that docs have reported a lessening of its efficacy for each subsequent use.

In addition, Paul may have used a variant of Trico closure, or he may have used the Ledge technique of Dr. Rose. Hopefully, a call to Matt can garner the information you seek. When that happens, I hope you can share the information with us as well.

Just for the record, I understand your capacity for communication with SMG, the fact that they are accessible for EVERY patient, and the fact that you most certainly will comprehend/understand everything said. My purpose was one of information and the ability to openly converse about your specific case while I am at the clinic, that is all. I desire as much information as I can absorb, especially when dealing with these sort of things. These topics are of GREAT interest to me personally, so call me selfish if you will. I will refrain from asking about your situation, at your request.
Happy Growing.

All,
I fully support Dr. Paul Shapiro's addition into the Coalition. I can think of no better pedigree for a physician than to be trained on a daily basis by Dr. Ron Shapiro and to have every surgery performed by Dr. Paul guaranteed by SMG.
I will ask some questions while I am at the clinic if only to offer another perspective on the situation.
Thanks and everyone try and be safe over this weekend!

Hello everyone,

Dr. Paul Shapiro certainly seems to do fine work from what I've seen, though I must admit, I have only seen immediately post op photos and none that have matured to date.

Before I give a resounding "yes", I'd like to see Dr. Paul post some before/after photos of several of his patients just as Pat has emailed him to do. Being that he's already a participant and member of our forums, I'm sure he will follow through with this.

I want to further add that I have no doubts about Dr. Paul's work, especially after having the privilege of lengthy discussions with him in another post about Double Follicular Units and his strategic plan and careful consideration on when to transplant them to yield the most natural result along with Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Transplantation. I believe the posting of before/after pictures of his patients will just be a formality at this point, but still an important and necessary one at this point.

Tom,

Thank you also for sharing your experience in this post. It is helpful to get actual patient feedback, which is what we are looking for. Let me just say, however, that being that you are just two months post op today, that everything you have described so far is normal. By no means do I want to dismiss your concerns, of course, however, at 2 months, many patients are extremely worried and cautious about what they see in the mirror. 2 months is normally around the WORST time for cosmetic appearance. Shockloss tends to be at it's worst, there is new found itchiness, and redness isn't gone. The donor area can take a long time to heal fully. I think it's good that you aren't going to make an official evaluation for at least another 6 months, I'd even say to wait a full year before giving him an official evaluation. Believe me...I'm in the same boat as you only having my transplant with Dr. Hasson 11 days before you. Though I didn't experience much shockloss this time around, my scalp is itchy, still a bit red, and there is still some shockloss in the donor area that's finally starting to grow back.

Falc

When initially reading this thread (before Dr. Paul posted pics) I would likely have recommended him for coaltion membership based on the results I had seen him post before (though not grown in) along with a recommendation from his brother Dr. Ron, who is about as good as they get.

After reviewing Dr. Paul's work as shown here, I vote Yes to adding Dr. Paul Shapiro to Coalition Membership. The fact that he has been trained by and is presented by Dr. Ron Shapiro is a big determining factor in my decision, but in the end it is the work show by Dr. Paul, along with is desire and commitment to hair transplant excellence, which lead me toward my ultimate recommendation.

I want to thank Dr. Paul Shapiro for responding to this community's request for photos of his patient results, click here to view them.

I think his patient results are some of the most impressive results I've ever seen. The naturalness and density of his work looks excellent in my opinion. The immediate post op photos also show how ultra refined and minimally invasive his procedure is.

I agree with Hairbank that Dr. Paul Shapiro has paid his dues and has earned the right to become an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Input from other forum members is welcome.

Thanks for everyones input.

Pat

I agree with hairbank and Pat that Dr. Paul's photos display is quality work and I also nominate him for coalition membership. I hope Dr. Paul will continue to be an active participant in our community, sharing his work and expertise with us.

Falc

Based upon meeting the extremely high standards set for Coalition membership and his support among Coalition members and members of this forum community, I'd like to welcome Dr. Paul Shapiro as our newest member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Special thanks to Dr. Ron Shapiro and his staff for the extensive training they have given to Dr. Paul Shapiro over the years. In the past I joked that we needed to clone Dr. Ron Shapiro in order to provide even more excellent surgeries. With Dr. Paul Shapiro's Shapiro genes and Shapiro training we have almost suceeded in doing so :-)

We look forward to seeing many patients achieve excellent results with Paul Shapiro at the Shapiro Medical Group for years to come.

Pat

Wow, that was quick! I was looking forward to seeing a larger presentation of his work and perhaps some answers to the inquiries I had posted to him, which by the way he did not take the time to respond to, before I could make a proper evaluation of his suitability for inclusion in the Coalition.

At this time I would be hesistant to recommend him personally to members, perhaps this will change in the upcoming future, one way or another. I hope, for the sake of our current and future members, we are not jumping the gun on this issue.

Pat...will Dr.P.Shapiro be a "trial member" as was Dr.Rassman?

quote:

At this time I would be hesistant to recommend him personally to members, perhaps this will change in the upcoming future, one way or another. I hope, for the sake of our current and future members, we are not jumping the gun on this issue.

I think this is normal. Though he is qualifed to be a member of the coalition, and I give him the thumbs up, it will still probably take some time for me to personally recommend him as one of the top doctors...however, I think that this comes with time

quote:

I was looking forward to seeing a larger presentation of his work and perhaps some answers to the inquiries I had posted to him, which by the way he did not take the time to respond to,

I would also like to see the answers to your questions, however, I don't think he was blowing you off. Everyone is busy in this world...and I'm sure when he gets a chance to view the thread and post, he'll make the time. Those are just my thoughts.

quote:

Pat...will Dr.P.Shapiro be a "trial member" as was Dr.Rassman?

I don't believe Dr. Rassman is a trial member, but a full member (though I know everyone is divided over his pricing)...I believe trial membership has been considered for Dr. Nakatsui, but we are still discussing what "trial" membership means and how it should differ (if at all) from permanent membership.

Falc

I recall Dr. Paul Shapiro was charging a discount rate based on being a relative "newby". Will that rate continue or will there be a rate adjustment forthcoming?

quote:

I recall Dr. Paul Shapiro was charging a discount rate based on being a relative "newby". Will that rate continue or will there be a rate adjustment forthcoming?

Gorpy,

I know this was true of Dr. Rassman (though his rates even discounted are well above the norm) but I wasn't aware of that with Dr. Paul. Perhaps I am mistaken?

Falc

Falc...


I appreciate your candor on the subject. I consider you one of the most valued members of this forum, if not the most valued. Coming to know you over 2 shorts months I believe your sole purpose here is help others. You have unselfishly devoted your time to do this without any form of compensation, other than a "thank you" from members for your insights.

My goals here are identical to yours. I have not nor will I ever seek to be remunerated for my efforts other than a " well done". My obligation is to the members, not as a spokesman for members doctors. Before I can truly recommend a surgeon I have to be convinced that I would personally use him myself. In this particular case, I cannot say this.

Personally I feel this process was rushed. I feel that the high standards set forth for Coalition Surgeons has not fully been met by the evidence provided to me so far. I had hoped that further information would be forthcoming before the fact, but that was not the case.

I am sure, knowing your ethics, that you will only recommend doctors you truly believe to be up to these standards, their inclusion in the Coalition not being the sole determining factor.

On the issue of "trial" membership, I thought I had read somewhere in Rassman's thread of something like this, perhaps I misunderstood.