Roberta Shapiro, DO, on the faculty at Columbia University Medical Center, is known as a passionate and dedicated physician driven by her desire to alleviate suffering. She is a board-certified specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, with close to 40 years in medicine and 30 years of experience specializing in both acute and chronic musculoskeletal and myofascial pain syndromes. This includes challenging patients with ongoing, diffuse, inflammatory pain issues and autoimmune disorders. In addition to the conventional spectrum of nonsurgical treatment techniques at her disposal, Dr. Shapiro brings sought-after expertise in regenerative medicine modalities, including the use of stem cells and post-natal products for healing.

Although her rate of successful outcomes is well beyond average, there are inevitably patients with whom all of Dr. Shapiro’s efforts are futile. But very recently, beyond all expectations, one of these patients became the source of her pivotal encounter with what she has come to recognize as a unique and revolutionary healing product. The patient is a fully incapacitated 36-year-old woman with athetoid cerebral palsy (CP) from birth. Her severe and potentially fatal decubitus ulcer had remained steadfastly unresponsive to Dr. Shapiro’s extensive menu of treatments for over a year. Its unexpected, stunning, and rapid healing was enabled by Dr. Shapiro’s hesitant decision to delay high-impact surgery, and try treating this ulcer with a lotion—that came with an intriguing history and data—she had learned about from a well-informed friend. And now this lotion—Crescel Skin Renewal Cream—has become a valued part of Dr. Shapiro’s therapeutic arsenal.

Dr. Shapiro’s CP patient has been in her care since age 8. This rare, most severe form of CP obliterates any ability to move or speak, but leaves normal intelligence intact. Her exceptional home care had prevented decubitus ulcers until 2017, at age 28. Following an unsuccessful year of conventional treatments, regenerative therapies produced 4 years of gradual progress that closed her wound in 2022. But it reopened in 2024 as a large stage 3 ulcer—a welcoming environment for a potentially fatal infection, and now did not even respond to regenerative techniques. Surgery would be high impact, with no guarantee of success. “But this patient had already suffered so enormously,” Dr. Shapiro says, “that I wanted to do everything possible to avoid surgery for her.” She decided to try Crescel, a product she had never used before.

Dr. Shapiro had learned of Crescel from an enthusiastic friend who had used the product, and shared information on the science underlying this skin-health-restoring topical lotion. It had been created to restore the ability of certain organelles within cells—called mitochondria—to repair and maintain cell health regardless of the problem, and without a single negative side effect. Dr. Shapiro had also learned of the growing body of supportive data involving an exceptional ability to heal severe skin conditions and damage—including chronic wounds. It was impressive, but seemed too good to be true, and Dr. Shapiro was waiting for further compelling evidence. But now she found herself faced with an extremely painful treatment decision for eliminating the severe ulcer threatening her young patient. “The ulcer was becoming so expansive, and I feared localized infection and disseminated sepsis, which could be fatal,” Dr. Shapiro recalls. She had exhausted her wound-healing toolbox, but intensely wanted to avoid putting her patient through surgery. At that point, a careful dermatologic assessment of Crescel’s tolerability had just confirmed the complete absence of any side effects. “Yet the possibility of infection made it scary to contemplate simply putting a lotion on an open wound,” Dr. Shapiro says. “It was very intimidating—but I had run out of options.” She learned that Crescel also supports the body’s immune response to infections, and finally concluded that it was in her patient’s best interest to try it. At least it would do no harm. Dr. Shapiro obtained a supply of the lotion. And hoped that it would work.

She was completely unprepared for the weekly photos of the ulcer sent by her patient’s mother. Significant healing was already visible at just 1 week after beginning treatment. By 10 weeks the ulcer was roughly 70% healed, and progress continues. “This is unbelievable healing,” Dr. Shapiro says. “I have never seen anything like this in my 30 years of practicing rehabilitation medicine. There was no debridement—nothing. Just Crescel.”

And now Dr. Shapiro has other Crescel success stories as well. A patient of hers whose facial skin cancer was removed with laser surgery was told that the resulting damage would take 4 weeks of downtime for healing. Dr. Shapiro had him apply Crescel, and his face was fully healed by his 1-week visit. He reported that his dermatologist was floored. A patient with significant permanent damage from a CO₂ laser cosmetic procedure gone wrong is now beginning to heal with Crescel. A patient who had spent his life covered from neck to toe with treatment-unresponsive psoriasis tried a patch test with Crescel. It cleared his psoriasis in each treated area. A patient with peripheral vascular disease had developed a wound on his shin that failed to close after many months of treatment. Yet substantial healing was evident after just the first week of Crescel treatment, and by 4 weeks it had healed completely. “Challenging wounds in peripheral vascular disease are what I see the most of,” Dr. Shapiro notes. “It is so easy to transition patients over to using Crescel.” And the exceptional results in this highly prevalent health challenge hold the potential to eliminate its threat.

In talking about Crescel and its unique capabilities, Dr. Shapiro emphasizes “the genius of its microemulsion technology. The nanomolecular composition allows it to be recognized and accepted by the mitochondria.” And thus it can enable the mitochondria to facilitate what is needed for healthy function. It decreases the pathologically overactive blood flow in rosacea but increases the diminished blood flow in diabetic foot ulcers, for example. In addition to regulating blood flow, Dr. Shapiro also notes that Crescel reduces inflammation, protects against infection, has no adverse effects—and is available at a relatively low price point.

“Crescel’s healing capabilities are earth shattering!” Dr. Shapiro exclaims.