David R Shapiro, MD

Dr. Shapiro is the most arrogant, stuck up
Doctor I have met! He will not let the patient talk. He talks down to you, like your a second class citizen! He thinks he is better then you! I think the 25 years of experience has gone to his head!

I don’t even know where to begin! I guess I can start by saying that I am forever grateful for the gift of vision that Dr. Shapiro has restored me with. I had been abusing contact lenses for 20 years. I was terrified to have any type of eye surgery or procedures. I had several traumatic personal experiences where my safety was jeopardized and did not have the ability to see because my contacts were not in, I still avoided having eye surgery (Near fatal car accident, burglary, etc). After a friend mentioned he was a past client of Dr. Shapiro’s I felt inspired to go in for a consultation. Dr. Shapiro was not only incredibly welcoming but he was so professional and thorough. He was so passionate about his work and was so educated. He spent several hours going over my eye health, examining me and reassuring me that I was in the best hands. He didn’t rush me and not only answered all my questions extensively but he explained the process of surgery detail by detail. I trusted him. Although I was terrified and apprehensive Dr. Shapiro’s confidence blew me away. It also helped that his staff Stacy and Sandy were incredibly supportive women. They took such good care of me. I was considered visually handicapped before meeting Dr. Shapiro. He changed my life! I’m so happy! I will never forget the gift he has given me. I would recommend him to absolutely anyone!!! He is not only skilled but has impeccable bed side manner. –Tania

The most amazing experience! If you are going to have corrective surgery on your eyes, go to the most experienced, passionate, up-​to-​date, and amazing doctor in the country. Dr. Shapiro is by far the most thorough, attentive and professional doctor I have ever met. I initially went in for Lasik and after a few test, Dr. Shapiro was unwilling to perform Lasik. While I could have easily gone to another doctor and received the surgery, Dr. Shapiro took the time to explain to me why it was in my best interest to only have PRK surgery. I am 3 months out from having my surgery and my vision continues to get sharper every day. (I already have ²⁰⁄₁₅ vision in both eyes, which is better than ²⁰⁄₂₀). So happy with the results and my choice to have Dr. Shapiro as my doctor. Do yourself a huge favor and treat yourself to perfect vision without contacts/​glasses.

Dr. Shapiro and his staff were amazing! They made me feel comfortable through the process, in preparation and the surgery itself was painless and took less than 10 minutes. I got the PRK LASIK and it’s been two months since surgery. I have ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision and it’s truly changed my life! I’m a professional artist, so it’s very important for me to see clearly and I love the freedom of no glasses or contacts! Thank you Dr. Shapiro and his lovely staff for all that you have done! I’m very happy with the results! Aloha, Rika Traxler

I had Lasik performed a few years ago by Dr. Shapiro, and I have been thrilled with the results ever since. Every aspect of the procedure is thoroughly explained, and Dr. Shapiro is extremely patient and professional about everything. At no point in any in the process do you ever rushed, or less than well cared-​for; Dr. Shapiro genuinely cares about your comfort, and that you understand what’s going on and what you can expect. My highest recommendation!

I am now 7 months out of having PRK LASIK with Dr. David Shapiro and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I am very conservative about having anything done to my body and was skeptical about having an elective procedure done to something so vital as my vision. But Dr. Shapiro gave me the confidence to do it and its been great. I did a lot of research going into it and spent a year interviewing and getting consultations with several ophthalmologists. I chose Dr. Shapiro because he was the only one who seemed truly concerned with my condition, values, and long term results. And I had friends who had been to other eye surgeons, and when their cases got complicated, they were referred by their doctors to Dr. Shapiro — I think that speaks volumes in itself. Those friends had excellent outcomes of what could have been a disaster, and they loved Dr. Shapiro’s care and expertise.
I found that he spent significantly more time in the office educating me on my condition and on the procedure than any other doc (almost triple!), and during the year would email me answers to questions as I learned more and more about LASIK. I didn’t have a need to start wearing glasses until I was nearly thirty. Dr. Shapiro was concerned that while my cornea were thick enough, they may not be stable and that doing a standard LASIK procedure could weaken the structure just enough to cause problems years down the road. The other docs just seemed to want to do it the quick & easy way, while making a few bucks. Dr. Shapiro made the tougher recommendation of PRK (photorefractive keratotomy) which is less invasive but takes longer to recover from. Same dollars out of my pocket — its just that I would sacrifice not having perfect vision for a few weeks for the comfort of knowing my cornea wouldn’t have to be sliced into a flap.
The procedure itself was not bad at all — truly took only about 10 minutes once on the table. I could see when I left, but definitely wanted to wear dark shades and have someone drive me (that’s required). I laid low a few days, had some scratchiness, but it really wasn’t too bad. I was able to read and work on a computer in the next day or two, but only for short periods at a time. I probably pushed too hard, as I was working a new job, and found myself going for an hour or two or more without a break for eye drops and that is not good — I think that may have slowed things down a little initially. I was driving in a few days, and night time didn’t bother me at all. Lenses came out in a week and I was already ²⁰⁄₂₀ in one eye and ²⁰⁄₂₅ in the other. I did find that after the lenses came out my vision appeared to worsen a bit, which is a little unusual. It might be that the epithelial layer that needs to grow back got a little disturbed on the removal and just needed to continue growing in. I found that my vision continued to improve over the next 6 – 8 weeks and at my 2 month check up I was ²⁰⁄₁₅ in one eye and ²⁰⁄₂₀ in the other! And being in Santa Barbara Dr. Shapiro made follow up appointments easy — he has an office in Montecito that he would come to in the early evenings which meant I didn’t have to miss any more work :)
It’s been great being able to wear sunglasses again (I hated those bulky clip-​ons and was too cheap/didn’t want the hassle of switching back and forth with prescription glasses). I no longer worry about getting my glasses bent up or just knocked around on my head, as I like to be fairly active, and that just wasn’t working for me. Now I’m free!!! I do occasionally still wake up with dry eyes, but that can usually be prevented with a little eye gel at night or use of eye drops in the morning — I rarely do either now. With the no interest 2 year payment plan I can easily say this was one of my better investments. Thank you Dr. Shapiro for being there for me.
If you are considering LASIK or PRK I would highly recommend you see Dr. Shapiro first. That’s all he does. I know that’s his tag line, but it’s true. He is the première LASIK /​PRK ophthalmologist in our region. When my mother started having eye troubles of a different nature I asked him about it and he made a great referral to another doctor. He wants to help people make their best choices. That makes him my best choice.

I had the best experience with dr shapiro and his whole staff… Enough so that I was sad to not have further follow up appointments! Dr shapiro is extremely professional and knowledgeable… There are no surprises and my eyes were properly prepared for corrective surgery from which vitamins to prep my eyes to eye drops and not wearing corrective lenses. He’s perfected this art and I remain impressed!

Where do I start?
I’m 25 and have been battling with terrible vision for 15 years. With two people in my family having gone to Dr. Shapiro in the last 10 years, I knew he was good. After some research, he is one of the best around. The day after I got LASIK Wavefront surgery I was at ²⁰⁄₁₅ vision (that’s better than perfect if you didn’t know). His staff: Sandy and Stacy are awesome as well.
If you’re in the market for corrective eye surgery, please consider Dr. Shapiro. Don’t shop on groupon, livingsocial, or look for deals. You don’t want to mess around with your eyes at «laser mills» where they get you in and out.
Cost was $ 4,900.00 total for both eyes and it’s the best money I’ve ever spent. However, there is a healing process and if you’re sensitive to dry eyes it becomes tiresome but I’m bearing through it.
Get it done, you won’t regret it.