Paul Shapiro, MD (retired)

My name is Jay and i have had surgery with Dr Ron and Dr Paul Shapiro, i travelled over 4000 miles to have my procedures at Shapiro Medical Group and am thrilled with the results from both doctors. 

During my first visit i arrived at the clinic and Dr Shapiro greeted me with a handshake and welcomed me to his clinic, straight away all my fears disappeared because the guy was one of the most kind, warm hearted gentleman I've ever had the pleasure to meet he really took onboard my hair loss concerns and was very passionate about helping.

Firstly he checked my donor, laxity and recipient site and we discussed the options and for about an hour. He's extremely thorough and answered all my questions and concerns and really took onboard what I was saying. It was obvious the man had my best interests at heart, there was no pressure or rushing to get me into the chair, he wanted to get the plan of attack just right before we started.

After a plan was made i went to the procedure room and the staff greeted me warmly, I felt like a vip and couldn't have been more comfortable, the techs were friendly and made me feel comfortable. Dr's Ron and Paul Shapiro must have had the nicest work force I've eve come across my whole life.

I was then told to put on a medical gown ready for the procedure, whilst doing this their consultant Matt Zupan came in, he introduced himself to me, what a nice guy he was, he seemed genuine, caring and very likeable just like the other staff members.

I was placed in a chair rather like a dentists chair and was given my aneasthetic using an extraordinary vibrating machine that was placed on my forehead to numb my scalp. I never felt any pain whatsoever, just the odd scratch like feeling now and again, but this was normal and was nothing at all to worry about. I can honestly say hand on heart that the aneasthetic wasn't as bad as that administered at a dentist, im soft so if it hurt id be the first to complain.

I was then placed face down on the chair with my chin on a head rest so the strip could be removed. This was painless and to be honest I almost fell asleep as I was comfortable lying there and had had little sleep the night before due to needless worry. After the strip was removed the techs starting the cutting while I was being sutured up.

Dr Shapiro managed to get rid of most of my poor previous scar which came courtesy of another Transplant clinic in my home town, i was thrilled and felt a little emotional, to be honest I almost started to cry soft sod I am lol.

He then started to make the incisions for my new hair with Janna counting everyone out loud so we knew just how many there was. When about 90% of the incisions were made, they used a dye on my recipient area for them to see the incisions better. They saved around 10% of the grafts to be used for fine tuning at the end.

Janna and the other techs then started to plant with Dr Shapiro checking all the time he was very thorough and hardly ever away whilst they were doing this. They planted in a rotation so that each tech didn't become too tired. It was obvious that they had all been there working together for a lot of years as they were like a well oiled machine working in tune with each other it was very impressive.

During the surgery I was given valium to help me relax and offered a choice of DVDs to watch on a TV in front of me, the whole experience was very relaxing.

I can honestly say though that throughout I didn't feel one bit of pain, and I was told that if I did to tell them so they could administer more aneasthetic.

The whole thing lasted from 8.00 am until around 5.00pm with a break in the middle for lunch.

Throughout the surgery I was offered drinks periodically which was a nice gesture as you can imagine sat in a chair that long you become restless and a nice drink every now and again alleviated that .

When most of the grafts were placed Dr S and Janna began to fine tune the hairline with the last lot of grafts and they really took there time over this to ensure it was just right and as planned from the beginning.

After the surgery was finished one off the techs went through all the post operative instructions and gave me a bag with pain killers and some gauze cloths, graftcyte spray and antibiotic cream he was very thorough with the instructions and made sure I understood which was good.

I was then given something to eat and drink before I said goodbye to everyone and thanked Dr Shapiro for all the work he had done , Janna then asked if I was happy with the results and im not ashamed to admit that even though I'm a man off 34yrs old it brought tears to my eyes when I looked in the mirror.

I am so glad i travelled to Shapiro Medical Group and would do it all again in a heartbeat as they are simply incredible in my honest opinion.

I have been having thinning of my crown area for last 5-6 years. Started taking Finasteride 1 mg daily with Rogaine 5% twice daily about 2.5 years ago that reversed the hair loss somewhat. I was using hair fibers (Nanogen, Caboki) those were doing a good job of concealing things. However, I was a bit annoyed with the mess on washbasin, bathtub, pillows and bedsheets. Also, I had a concern that I might be inhaling these nanoparticles on a regular basis in small amount and that might result in lung problems (?Fibrosis) like silica and asbestos. So I decided to have a hair transplant in the crown area.

After thorough research and picking up a well renowned surgeon in Twin cities area, I decided to go for FUT (strip) procedure. I had the procedure performed on 9/9/15 and it went well. However, I am bit scared looking at my head. As shown in the pre and post-procedure pictures. The bald area looks huge in the post-procedure pictures.

Also, I was given an estimate of 1500-2000 grafts initially, however, at the end of day it took over 2600 grafts. The total cost for the procedure was over $10,600 excluding travel and lodging costs.

Any inputs, if this is the normal cost for hair transplantation via FUT. I really hope to get a good density of hair in next 6-12 months, so that I do not have to use concealers again.

Updated on 13 Sep 2015:


Updated on 13 Sep 2015:


Updated on 15 Sep 2015:
I am not taking any pain meds since last 3 days. No bleeding. It's been a little difficult to sleep on the back of my head due to growing here causing some pain in the donor area with pressure. Today, in shower, I noticed some soft scabs coming out. I am still being very gentle while showering and not standing directly under the shower head. Still using the baby shampoo provided in post-op packet and ATP mist every 2-3 hours. May be I can stop using the ATP mist today. The instructions said to use it for 5 days. There is only little left in the container anyway. Still have some bacitracin ointment pouches left for the donor area. Will keep on using them until the suture removal day (POD 12).

Here are some Pics from day 6. I am off from work for few more days. Hope by then, I will have some hair growth and rest can be concealed with Caboki fibers.

Updated on 17 Oct 2015:


Updated on 8 Nov 2015:
Bald area looks large in pic... But doesn't seem too bad in real... I had my hair cut short to less than 1/2 inch. After putting Caboki on the thin area.. It looks quite natural.

Updated on 30 Dec 2015:


Updated on 15 Mar 2016:

After suffering MPB for a decade I finally plucked up the courage to have a hair transplant after researching for what seemed like an eternity. I consulted with numerous doctors, spoke with former patients and researched the hair loss forums. Bald truth and Hairlossexperiences helped me decide



Updated on 27 Aug 2015: