Dr. Shapiro and hairlines?

[shadows]

I haven't read anything bad about him...can anyone tell me 1 negative thing without being judgemental??? Or can anyone give me a better physician for creating a soft hairline???

[shadows]

I haven't read anything bad about him...can anyone tell me 1 negative thing without being judgemental??? Or can anyone give me a better physician for creating a soft hairline???

[arfy]

Well, first I should say that Dr. Shapiro seems like a fantastic HT doctor. I don't recall ever hearing anyone say he did a bad job on them, in the 2 or 3 years I have been looking at these online forums. That's pretty impressive.

 

However, you are asking for "negatives".

 

I really wish that Dr. Shapiro did his own consultations. Instead, he has a "consultant" (a non-physician) meet with potential patients. Many doctors do prefer to meet with patients themselves, and I personally prefer doctors who work this way. The consultant is not going to be there in the operating room, explaining everything you discussed with him, to the doctor. In other words, that was a missed opportunity for you to get some feedback from the guy who actually does the work... instead you've been talking to a salesman, essentially.

 

Now I expect that this will raise some hackles here, but this is not just my opinion, a lot of the top doctors feel the same way. Some say that the doctor is "just too busy" to meet with potential patients. The fact is that ALL doctors are busy. This is the only field of medicine that employs front-office salesmen, as a way to secure customers. Half the battle with a hair transplant is getting a good solid connection between the patient and the doctor, so that both sides are "on the same page". A consultant is an obstacle in that process, in my opinion.

 

Also, many clinics abuse the use of consultants, so when "good" clinics choose to use them, I find it disturbing. For example, it is illegal for the consultant to make any surgical recommendations. It is also illegal for the consultant to schedule surgery BEFORE you have actually met the doctor. However, these kinds of violations happen all the time. (The laws may vary from state to state on these issues).

 

Consultants are the product of the "hair mill" system, where the point is to churn out as many generic transplants as possible, in order to make as much money as possible. "Hair mills" are responsible for damaging literally millions of guys, over the last 30 years. So when I hear that certain "excellent" doctors choose to use a consultant, rather than meet with the patients right from the beginning, it bothers me.

 

Personally, I wish that Dr. Shapiro didn't choose to use a consultant. This doesn't mean that Dr. Shapiro necessarily uses his consultants "innappropriately", but my opinion is that in general, consultants should be avoided. Spend your time speaking directly to the person who will operate on you.

 

Sorry if this offends anyone, but that's how I feel.

 

(By the way, I think Dr. Shapiro does excellent-looking hairlines.)

[shadows]

Thanks for the input...I would have to fly to Minn. for my HT and would not want to fly all the way there to do a consult with somebody who wouldn't even be in the surgery room. When you say Shapiro does excellent hairlines, is that from what you've seen on the internet or personally??? My feeling is that any pic on the net can be altered (or if not to that extent...flattered)

[arfy]

To Jotronic

Dr. Puig used a consultant. Puig would come into the surgery room at the last minute, flip up his mask and it was "off to the races". Back then, I had nothing to compare it to, I thought it was normal. I also trusted that as a doctor, he would take excellent care of me, which wasn't true.

 

When I went back to complain, I wasn't allowed to talk to the doctor, I had to voice my complaints to the consultant, which went nowhere of course. Both these guys are still out there, working in the field, by the way. From what I can tell, Dr. Puig was one of the people who helped establish the "hair mill" system of business.

 

I hold both my consultant and doctor responsible for what happened, the consultant for lying to me and "overselling" the procedure when I wasn't a good candidate, and Dr. Puig because he was the director of the clinic and called the shots, and he also should have told me to go home the moment we met.

 

Shadows

I agree you should really see the doctor's work in person. A HT is expensive, so your travel expenses are really peanuts in the long run. If you have to spend a couple hundred bucks on a plane ticket for "peace of mind" believe me it will be well worth it. Ask the clinic if they can help arrange for you to meet some patients with a similar pattern of hair loss as you have now.

 

I also agree that photos can be misleading, because you don't see the person from all sides, the top down, etc. I am sure that good clinics do not need to doctor their photos, though. But see real patients, and examine them closely, no matter which clinic you are considering. Run your fingers through their hair. You need to get a "real-life" look at what a doctor can and cannot do, with the surgery.

 

Regarding Pat's donor scar, I believe Pat said he went on vacation after his surgery and left the sutures in longer than he was supposed to, and that was why he had a problem. Pat took all the blame for his scar problem, which I recently read had been fixed. Maybe Pat will explain further...

[hairhair]

Hey, if you're worried about meeting with a consultant and not the doctor, go to Dr. Charles then.

 

I drove up from Chicago to Minnesota for my HT and when I got there, I met with Matt Z. and also Dr. Charles was in there the entire time. While Matt went over everything with me, Dr. Charles added his input as well, anything surgically related was spoken from Dr. Charles and advice like taking Propecia was offered by Matt Z. and then Dr. Charles afterwards.

 

Matt took the pre-op photos and Dr. Charles was even in the room for that as well. They both listened to my concerns about taking anything medicine related (as I keep in healthy shape and do not take meds for anythng) and even put em at ease about the little 1 mg of Finasteride (Propecia), they were both VERY common-sense about it all. In fact, I don't know if i was lucky or not, but Dr. Shapiro even made appearances every 30 minutes or so in my room during the procedure and checked over everything and said it was going beautifully.

 

So, I can't argue with anyone else's experiences, but mine was absolutely fricking spectacular. And not to sound like a jackass, but how would I know what a bad experience was like, first off, I never had a HT done prior to this one, second from what I hear, I went to the best place possible. And after experiencing it, I can say that from what I see others saying about their procedures, then comparing my experience to theirs, they at Shapiro Medical are the best.

 

Hell, the guy even gave up his sammich to me for lunch when the restaurant screwed up my order! He took down the fatty Chicken Salad Sammich and gave me the lean sammich!

 

[Male Top Model 2 NW]

Shapiro uses the "irregular" system for hair lines, it's to say, the hair line seems more natural that a straight one.

 

Although I like straight hair lines. A hair line begins in the sides too, this is a very important point: wideness of the forehead and the shape of the timples: square, 90 degrees, tri-side angle, curve timples...

[TrOpiC00]

They really PUSH Propecia there... if Xandrox is working for me, why would I switch?! Shapiro Medical Group might be one of the best, but taking Propecia shouldn't be a requirement to get a Hair Transplant there!

[vocor1]

Go ahead and stay off Propecia if you want. But chances are that you'll need another HT faster than you would have if you didn't take Propecia.

That is a good sign when the HT place is emphasizing a possible cure that actually takes away some of your potential business (i.e. you keep more of your hair for longer b/c of the DHT blocker).

Plus, Propecia may curb the effects of shock loss.

So far, I've avoided shock loss, though most of my transplanted grafts have already fallen out 3 weeks post-op.