Robert Bernstein

Who

Are you a millionaire with a receding hairline? Dr. Bob Bernstein would like to talk to you about one of his hair-transplant packages.

Backstory

Born in Manhattan and raised in Long Island, Bernstein attended college at Tulane and medical school in New Jersey. He performed his first hair transplant in the early '80s as a dermatology resident at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Unhappy with the results, he didn't perform another until 1994, when he partnered up with Bill Rassman to set up the New Hair Institute in Los Angeles. Over the next 10 years, Bernstein worked with Rassman and authored a number of papers on the subject of hair restoration, moving to New York to set up his own practice, the Bernstein Medical Center for Hair Restoration, in 2005.

On the job

Bernstein's method of follicular-unit transplantation, a procedure he helped pioneer, is designed to help implanted hair look more natural than typical plugs. While it isn't all that different from procedures other docs perform, what sets Bernstein apart is his hush-hush client list, rumored to include many of the city's most prominent real estate developers, hedge fund moguls, CEOs, and celebs. In case you're wondering, Bernstein doesn't just handle balding heads—he can also fill in thinning eyebrows.

The look

Despite his line of work, Bernstein is almost entirely bald, a fact that surprises some patients.

Personal

Bernstein lives on East 56th Street with his wife, Shizuka—they met when she brought her sons into his dermatology office years ago. After marrying, Shizuka began working in Robert's office doing facials, and eventually opened her own day spa, Shizuka New York. Her two sons, Michael and Taijiro, are now in college; she and Bernstein have one daughter together, Nikita.