Dr. John Cole Botched My Repair Surgeries: I Paid $36,000 with Zero Results.

[Deadman1]

This post needs to be made a sticky. When a doctors is this bad and it is so well documented, it would be criminal not to post it as a sticky as a warming to others.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Damn dude, I'm really sorry you have deal with this. Do you have any photos of what your head looked like before Cole touched it? If it's any consolation the top of your head just looks like the top of a bald guy's head to me instead of looking scarred. I was expecting your head to look a lot worse when I saw those first pictures of all that stitch webbing.

 

[arfy]

Damn dude, I'm really sorry you have deal with this. Do you have any photos of what your head looked like before Cole touched it? If it's any consolation the top of your head just looks like the top of a bald guy's head to me instead of looking scarred. I was expecting your head to look a lot worse when I saw those first pictures of all that stitch webbing.

You can't see the scars because it's difficult to show that in a photograph. You might need to see my head in person. Photos can be deceiving. The Before/During/After Cole photos were in the original post. As you can see, after Cole transplanted 4500 grafts there was no visible improvement. These were taken at Cole's office, with the same professional photo setup (so it's comparing apples to apples):

There's no new additional hair in the After photo, the hair is just slightly longer, so it covers a little better. At Cole's office, we zoomed in super-close, and it was obvious that no hairs were growing in the exact places that grafts were transplanted into.

 

[htthrowaway]

Hi arfy,

I was searching on hair transplants, was planning to go to Forhair in Korea, and then came across your thread. I don't know if you or anyone might possibly know, but do you think it's 'safe' to go to the Forhair branch in Korea? I was planning for their non-shaven FUE, as they are one of only a few places who do it. But your thread really scares me.

They gave me an evaluation, said I'd probably need more than 1 surgery. They emailed me pics of one of their patients who did a non-shaven FUE, and the growth looks good. Also, reviews on the Korean branch all seem good, from any I can find (some might all be fake considering what you say here). So the big question is whether the branch in Korea is far away enough from Cole, that his unethical practices, the marketing etc, don't really affect the surgery itself.

The alternative for a non-shaven FUE is a place in Japan called Shinwa Clinic that has zero reviews. Or I could shave my head and just go to Erdogan in Turkey.

You probably don't know much about their Korea branch, but maybe the other guy might?

Thanks

 

[buckthorn]

Hi arfy,

I was searching on hair transplants, was planning to go to Forhair in Korea, and then came across your thread. I don't know if you or anyone might possibly know, but do you think it's 'safe' to go to the Forhair branch in Korea? I was planning for their non-shaven FUE, as they are one of only a few places who do it. But your thread really scares me.

They gave me an evaluation, said I'd probably need more than 1 surgery. They emailed me pics of one of their patients who did a non-shaven FUE, and the growth looks good. Also, reviews on the Korean branch all seem good, from any I can find (some might all be fake considering what you say here). So the big question is whether the branch in Korea is far away enough from Cole, that his unethical practices, the marketing etc, don't really affect the surgery itself.

The alternative for a non-shaven FUE is a place in Japan called Shinwa Clinic that has zero reviews. Or I could shave my head and just go to Erdogan in Turkey.

You probably don't know much about their Korea branch, but maybe the other guy might?

Thanks

If you want information, you should start your own thread on this topic as this has nothing to do with this thread. I would NOT personally go to the clinics you have mentioned. Choose an IAHRS surgeon with a STRONG reputation and a history of ethics and good results in this field. I think Erdogan is good, so is ********* in Turkey and the prices are reasonable as well. I was butchered by a main chain clinic. That is not uncommon to find with places like that. They deal in bulk and have lawyers up the ***.

 

[crowngarden]

Hi arfy,

I was searching on hair transplants, was planning to go to Forhair in Korea, and then came across your thread. I don't know if you or anyone might possibly know, but do you think it's 'safe' to go to the Forhair branch in Korea? I was planning for their non-shaven FUE, as they are one of only a few places who do it. But your thread really scares me.

They gave me an evaluation, said I'd probably need more than 1 surgery. They emailed me pics of one of their patients who did a non-shaven FUE, and the growth looks good. Also, reviews on the Korean branch all seem good, from any I can find (some might all be fake considering what you say here). So the big question is whether the branch in Korea is far away enough from Cole, that his unethical practices, the marketing etc, don't really affect the surgery itself.

The alternative for a non-shaven FUE is a place in Japan called Shinwa Clinic that has zero reviews. Or I could shave my head and just go to Erdogan in Turkey.

You probably don't know much about their Korea branch, but maybe the other guy might?

Thanks

I would think shaving your head allows the surgeon to be more precise and will increase the quality of the results. When having a procedure like this done, you want to cut down the margin for error as much as possible.

 

[arfy]

I have no comment or opinion at this time, on ForHair Korea. The big problem is with Dr Cole himself, and his shady ethics. I really should have sued him for malpractice, because I think I would have won.

 

[Roberto_72]

First time I read this thread in its entirety.
Thank you for it. I had two hair transplants in Italy and I think I was very lucky the grafts stuck.
I think my surgeon was very professional and realistic during the pre-op, the op and the post-op.
However now I understand I was also lucky because these guys do it for money, not because they want to save the world from bad looks, so it's not like they really care...

 

[baldheart]

Arfy, from your post I didn't get why you rely on the same doctor for repairing the mess he created. I had FUT procedure many years ago with another doctor and since it was unsuccessful I assume the surgeon doesn't have the skills and wouldn't come back.

There is a John P. Cole in YouTube and he calims to be repairing odd jobs made by others.

BTW Cole's face and voice immediately made me recall the phony martial arts instructor George Dillman.

 

[topcat]

LOL..............yes I remember George Dillman. What's interesting about him and relevant is the marketing. Yes I do believe there is something to accupressure but certainly not what he was selling. What's interesting about his marketing approach is taking pictures with celebrities and then using it as a promotional tool. You will find the same with hair transplantation either through celebrities or connecting to other media outlets and as way of an endorsement such as seen on "Good Morning America" for example................red flag in my opinion. Many marketers will have more than a handful and some dozens of endorsements as a way to build image and credibility when sometimes they are simply marketers trying to fool the consumer. Men's magazines are a common example with hair transplantation.


And I suppose the picture with Bruce was to make a connection to the one finger death punch..............yes good marketing I suppose if you want to fool people.

After watching the first UFC in the early eighties I purchased some of the Gracie material...........the reason being is it wasn't marketing it was proof. Big difference and once again same applies to hair transplantation. Too many talking a good game while very few actually executing one.

 

[MichaelMurfy]

There seems to be a lot of first-timers on this forum, and not many older guys like me, who had bad results, and then tried to get corrective surgery. Maybe you first-timer guys won't relate to my experience. But it's still important to understand that if you do have a problem with your hair transplant, it can screw up your entire life. And also, there are new advancements such as FUE surgery, but that doesn't mean that the doctors doing FUE are always getting good results. Young guys especially need to be careful with their decisions. I was 21 when I got my first hair transplant and my life has never been the same. I've had something like 14 "repair" surgeries so far with various doctors, and I still don't look good. The last four surgeries (with Dr. Cole) were complete failures - none of the grafts grew!!!! Dr. Cole wasted precious donor hair, and created even more scarring, so my "repair" surgeries with Cole actually left me WORSE than I was before.

There is no doubt that Dr. Cole knows my real identity, as I have been posting on forums like this since 2001. I told Dr. Cole my screen name on the first day I met him.

Warning: LONG post ahead!!! TL;DR? Dr. Cole was incompetent during surgery and he misled me during the consultations. He has a documented history of unethical behavior. Details below. This post is especially for "repair" patients like myself: Beware, we can get screwed up AGAIN by incompetent doctors doing bad repair surgery! And for anybody who is considering Dr. Cole for surgery: Beware!! There are plenty of guys like myself who feel like we were RIPPED OFF by Dr. Cole.

Definition of Botch: a bungled or badly carried out task or action.
synonyms: bungle, mismanage, mishandle, make a mess of, mess up, make a hash of, muff, fluff, foul up, screw up, flub


DR. COLE’S UTTER FAILURE


I spent $36,050 on corrective ‘repair’ surgery with Dr. John P. Cole in 2005, with virtually ZERO hair growth. Virtually none of Dr. Cole’s grafts grew. I picked Dr. Cole to do these procedures, based on what I now believe were deceptive claims made to me during consultations. Also, Dr. Cole left me in worse shape after surgery by creating new scarring, and by depleting hair from my already severely depleted scalp donor area. This is a difficult post to write, because I am psychologically devastated, and there is so much information to cover, and I want to be perfectly clear, without resorting to angry ranting (when you've spent this much money with bad results, it's not easy). Dr. Cole was dishonest with me during my consultation. He made exaggerated claims about the results he was getting with body hair transplants (BHT). He told me I had “zero margin for error” during my first consultation, but then took unnecessary risks with my surgery. In my opinion, he made medical decisions based on profits (getting high graft counts), instead of my well-being. After he was confronted with the complete lack of growth using his own high resolution photos, he promised me a refund and then later reneged, claiming financial hardship. He offered a $6,000 settlement, less than 20% refund (later bumped up to a final $13,000 during negotiations - less than 1/3 of the money). Based on my personal experiences, my opinion is that Dr. Cole is willing to lie to patients, he recklessly experiments on patients like myself while still learning techniques he hasn’t mastered, and he doesn’t stand behind his own work. Afterwards, I learned some things which make me believe Dr. Cole has an ongoing pattern of poor judgement, lies and ethical failures.


Why am I talking about this, when it’s incredibly painful to remember? Because Dr. Cole’s website laughably claims “His concern for his patients is second to none and he is a perfectionist in all that he does” and that he gets “tremendous” results with Body Hair Transplantation. That definitely wasn’t my experience with Dr. Cole whatsoever, and I believe the public should know the extent of Dr. Cole’s misconduct. I know there are patients of Dr. Cole who think he is great, because they personally are happy with their results from him. I am not claiming that your experience isn’t valid; Good for you. But please, by the same token, my bad experience with Dr. Cole is valid too. (I will take a polygraph test regarding everything I write here). When I read these online forums, there is a lot of focus on technical issues, and not nearly enough discussion of the character of the doctors (or lack of character, in some cases). When choosing a doctor, don’t just look at cherry-picked photos of the best results, or look for who uses the smallest punch, or other technical matters. You should also think about which doctors are the most honest, the most ethical, the most trust-worthy. Which doctor will take the least risks with your appearance? In my experience, Dr. Cole fails on all of these counts. He certainly failed me, big time. A doctor can’t be “mostly ethical” (just like you can’t be “a little bit pregnant”). In my opinion, if you’re not ethical 100%, then you’re not ethical. In my experience, Dr. Cole is not ethical, period. I’m not alone in that judgement. In a previous online forum post, Dr. Cole bragged that he wanted to “clean up” the hair transplant industry. I think that if Dr. Cole wants to “clean up” the hair transplant industry, he should start by cleaning up his own practice.























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