Dr. Lawrence Shapiro's Hair Institute

Dr. Lawrence J. Shapiro has been in practice since 1989. He has performed over 10,000 micro-mini graft procedures. As a dermatologist (the treatment of skin, hair, and nails) he specializes exclusively in hair transplant surgery. Dr. Shapiro was the first to do a "strip incision" and the first doctor in the Southern U.S. to specialize in "micro-mini grafts." He developed this treatment to a state of the art procedure while others were and still are using plugs and other outdated methods.

Dr. Shapiro has a highly trained and experienced medical staff, who have been with him for 12-15 years, and who specialize exclusively in assisting in hair transplant surgery. This knowledgeable and caring team are here to support you throughout this entire process.

What to Avoid

We are besieged daily with hair loss treatment ads using misleading advertising to sell their products. Hair loss patients spend nearly one billion dollars each year on ineffective hair loss treatments. If you are genetically prone to hair loss and balding, FDA-proven hair loss treatments MAY help slow the process IF they are used early and often. However, hair loss treatments are still not permament solutions to your hair loss problem and can become very costly and expensive over time with possible side effects.

If you have already had a small amount, moderate or even significant hair loss, hair transplants are the only option for restoring natural hairlines. Because "Donor Hair" is already genetically resistant to the male/female-pattern balding, it can be used for the restoration of natural hair which is also genetically resistant to balding.

We recommend that you be cautious of unproven and non FDA-approved methods of hair treatment such as the latest fad, laser combs, to grow your hair. The high cost of these unproven methods and non-approved methods certainly does not justify them. Note: If you Google "laser comb fraud" you will read experiences of those who paid about $700 for a useless gimmick costing about $50 in components.

Also beware of hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment or HBOT, clinically used for a number of problems including compromised skin grafts and flaps,but is not an FDA-approved treatment for hair loss. Some offices may use it for skin grafts gone wrong.

Both laser treatments and hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment are not only non FDA approved but have no scientific research to even back their claims. Clinics have opened only to be closed down by making such fraudulent claims.

The most effective and affordable treatment for hair loss is a permanent hair transplant performed by an experienced, skilled surgeon. Ask to view surgical procedures and meet prior patients. Find out how long the surgeon has been performing hair transplants, how many surgeries they have performed and how many grafts they are able to do in a session.