I must come to Dr. Cole’s defense here. I have held off on telling my personal story for a while now and I think that it is about time, especially after reading some of the negative and unjust comments about Dr. Cole, whom I regard highly within the industry based on my experience. This turned out to be a pretty long post but it is all frank and comes from a sincere intent to help others who have gone or are going through the same thing as me. I have participated in these forums for a long time and have shared the same roller coaster ride of emotions with many of you. In many of the different handles that I have used in different forums, I have generally focused on younger individuals and have DISSUADED them from undergoing strip procedures and have encouraged them to do a lot research on the doctor they plan to use. I haven’t told my personal story yet or the reasons of why I’ve been on these forums on my free time and trying to help younger individuals from making some of the greatest mistakes of their lives, but here it goes. I will tell it through an email I sent to Nu/Hart’s President, Kathy Smith, on January 7th:
"Mrs. Kathy Smith,
I am writing to you in regards to a hair transplant that I had at one
of your clinics in [-----]. In short, I was extremely dissatisfied
with the quality of the procedure, the clinic, and the lack of care
for my best interests. The doctor who operated on me was Dr. Recasens. Following are my grievances:
When I came to the clinic, I was 19 years old with a receding hairline
and gradual thinning. Instead of being turned away for being too young
for a procedure, Dr. Recasens took advantage of my desperate state and
told me that I would be a perfect candidate for a hair transplant and
that it was great that I was doing it so early since it would last me
a lifetime and that no one would be able to tell that I had one. He
and his staff encouraged me to go under the knife and make one of the
greatest mistakes of my life based on the recommendations of the
doctor. I should have been turned away for many reasons. I was not.
Why? At such a young age, and future hair loss being unpredictable,
how could your doctor recommend anything other than trying other
options? This is my greatest concern. The following concerns are in
regards to the procedure itself.
The doctor recommended 1000 grafts via a strip procedure. Given my
age, it would have been in my best interest to do a FUE leaving no
scar. I was not even told about this option. Being a student, I had no
money and could hardly afford textbooks for college. I spoke with the
clinic and they said they would give me a little discount if I did the
procedure very soon. I borrowed money and convinced by the Nuhart
clinic that this would be the greatest move of my life, I scheduled a
procedure. During the procedure, as the doctor made the recipient
sites, the technician helping him would count every hundred sites.
Something didn’t sit well with me so I decided to count along with
every crunch I felt as he was making the recipient sites. At every 70
count, the technician would say 100. At the time, I mentioned
something but they played it off. Now, having gone to an expert who
evaluated me, I was told that I was given 500 grafts at best. Other
than the very unnatural look of the hairline, he said that a lot of
these grafts were punched in too deep. Moreover, he said given the
length of the scar, they probably took way more than that and most
likely threw away the tissue. Given that we only have a limited donor
area, this is something that cannot be repaired or reversed. I’ve lost
those grafts forever. Furthermore, the strip scar is 1 cm in width in
certain areas. This is entirely unacceptable by even the poorest of
standards.
I was never called in for the stitches to be taken out. Until I
contacted the office myself, they did not schedule me to come in to
have the stitches taken out. I was also never called in for a
followup. It seemed that as soon as they got my money, rushed me in
and out with total disregard for my best interests, they totally lost
interest in me.
After the procedure, I was told that I could go to work / school /
etc. the very next day. I woke up with a swollen face and horrible
pain. Within a few weeks following the procedure, I had lost a
substantial amount of my existing hair. I was never told about the
possible shock loss that I would suffer due to the procedure. I was
never told that being so young, the likelihood of shock loss will be
so great. When I lost so much hair within a few weeks after the
procedure, and doing research online and finding out about shock loss,
I called the clinic and the doctor said that I shouldn’t worry about
it as it will all grow back. It did not. I was never told that, given
my circumstances, other options would have been much better than doing
a transplant that would leave a long scar, at parts being up to one cm
in width, on the back of my head for the rest of my life with horrible
placement of the grafts and “cobblestoning”.
After going through this trauma and doing a lot of research, I have
finally been able to convince myself to go see one of the best doctors
in the field. This was not easy as I had completely lost trust. So far
the doctor, who is very well known and respected among the HT
community, has been very upfront with me and has revealed a lot of
problems with my surgery at your clinic. Besides the horrible results,
his main concern was why I was not discouraged to do a hair
transplant. I have become a regular poster on online forums
discouraging young individuals from getting a transplant and being
careful in who they choose. I have not come out about my story yet,
but feel that it is about time that I should in order to prevent
others from going through what I have. I called to speak with you a
few times in order to give you a chance to address these issues but
have been unsuccessful in doing so. Claudio recommended that I email
you and I would appreciate your response to these issues and if it is
common within your practice.
I look forward to your timely response."
She responded saying that she would look at my file and get back with me…that was 7 months ago and my last email to her on April 1st went ignored.
The “best doctor in the field” who I referenced in the letter was Dr. Cole. Being that after my procedure at Nu/Hart, I was so traumatized and scared to see another doctor, it must speak highly of Dr. Cole that I built up the trust and courage to go see him. After the mistake I had made of going to Nu/Hart, I had spent a lot of time on forums researching the leading doctors in the field and communicating with other patients. I found Dr. Cole to be my best option and decided to go see him. He was the first doctor whom I visited after my procedure at Nu/Hart. I was very cautious and wary.
I went to the clinic and was greeted by some very nice people who I could tell were genuinely looking to help me. I did not expect to see Dr. Cole himself immediately , but just one of his consultants, Alex, who like Dr. Cole shared what I felt to be a genuine interest in helping individuals with hair loss. However, to my surprise, Dr. Cole himself came to see me on what was evident to me to be one of his busy days. He explained that he wanted to personally talk to me because he had looked at my file and given my age and passed experience he felt that he needed to talk to me himself. He spent a good 45 minutes evaluating me and giving his recommendations in the following order:
1- Do Nothing
2- If I choose to do something, focus on fixing the scar.
3- Although he doesn’t feel that I would be a good candidate, he would look into doing some kind of BHT or FUE/CIT if I REALLY wanted to.
Dr. Cole has been the only one who has recommended that I simply do NOTHING given my young age and pattern of hair loss. However, he said that since I’ve already done a strip procedure and have a scar, I should focus on getting the scar fixed first and some of the grafts revised if I choose to do anything. He charged me absolutely nothing for his time, never pushed me into doing a procedure, and was genuine and honest with me. I had seen other doctors as well, including Dr. Umar, whom I also think highly of, however, I still found Dr. Cole to be the most genuine and best of all the ones I’ve seen.
He is like anything BUT any of the other doctors out there who are after your money and could care less about you. He sincerely cares about helping people with hair loss. He is known for doing tons of pro-bono work even with his packed schedule. He is a leading researcher and innovator of new tools to assist in procedures. He has a progressive mindset and is always looking for new ways to help us. He invests his time and energy for the cause of finding a solution. He is anything but a doctor who should be talked of negatively in these forums. He’s on our side.
When Acell started getting a lot of attention, I contacted Dr. Cole’s office and also spoke with individuals from Acell. Dr. Cole’s office was very receptive to the idea of trying Acell to see if it has any benefits for his patients and I encouraged both Dr. Coles office and Acell to do so. Whether or not Acell will show to have any great benefit or not, the fact that Dr. Cole was willing to spend the time of bringing it into his office and trying should speak volumes about his intentions. He could simply choose to do procedures all day long and bring in all the cash he wants. Instead, he invests his time and energy into advancing the search for a cure. Again, he is on our side and in a sea of HT surgeons, he stands out as on of the best.
I will let everyone know what plays out with Nu/Hart and will update you on any repair procedures I may choose to have with Dr. Cole. I am more than willing to chat with anyone who needs someone to talk to about hair loss or is in need of any advice based on my experiences. But please, think long and hard before going under the knife, and if you choose to do so, NEVER do a strip procedure. I can be contacted at hometruthbetold@gmail.com and we can even set something up to talk on the phone. Feel free to email or PM me.
» » When we have an unexpected opening, we have a list of patients, who
» cannot
» » afford hair restoration or repair surgery, which we pull from and bring
» in
» » for pro-bono work.
» »
» » Give me a break how many of these patients do you bring in and really
» » help.
» » What is it now one patient every 3 months and then you still try to
» » extract money from them.
» » Whats your definition of free $5 a graft.
» » I have spoke to some of these people they have been treated like dogs
» » hanging around in hotel rooms being called up at 4 in the afternoon for
» a
» » few hundred grafts here and there after days of waiting. Surgeries
» » cancelled at the last moment when you found someone who would pay full
» » price.
» »
» » How about the body hair patients that did not get any growth did you
» help
» » them.
» » Did you say come in again and i will try again for free because i
» really
» » care about the patients.
» » No you took thousands from them and went they got no growth hell you
» » charged them again. Some told me you would not even give a discount on
» the
» » next surgery.
» »
» » Please dont spurt all that compassion crap about caring about the
» » patients.
» » Patients talk to each other they are not stupid so please do not give
» us
» » this rubbish about how much you care.
»
» Throughout his 20+ years in the industry, Dr. Cole has performed a huge
» amount of pro-bono work and has always tried to help out as many people as
» he can. I’m very sorry if he wasn’t able to provide you with free work,
» however, it’s important to understand that FUE is very physically taxing.
» Dr. Cole is getting older and simply cannot perform as many procedures as
» he used to (whether at full-rate or pro-bono) and would rather take on
» fewer cases than let his high standards and exceptional results suffer. He
» genuinely cares about his patients and all hair loss sufferers, and does
» the best he can. However, he is only one man, he cannot help everyone and
» he will never be able to make everyone happy.
)
BUT WAIT