HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

Forhair or Fitlocks, in doing my research on HT for the last 2 years i was under the impression that Dr. Cole was the choice for FUE, however i needed many graphs so i went with 2 strips first with a plan of visiting Dr. Cole to finish me up (hopefully) in the end, Shapiro, Hasson, Cole, wow what a 1,2,3 Punch that would be, recently i had some conversations with what i would call some top people in this industry including Dr.'s and consultants, their first reactions when i ask about Dr. Cole is that he is "arrogant" or a "Maverick" who drives a Ferrari and only talks a big game, but when i really press them for info on whos the person to go to for FUE they reluctantly admit Cole, although repeating that there are only a handful of cases that are a success and that FUE is still pretty risky, that depressed me a bit but i still plan on visiting your offices someday for a consult, i do think its lame you charge for consultations, for such an expensive procedure you need the $50.00 also, also you were recently ripped pretty good at Hairtransplantnetwork.com by the owner of the site, something about a former consultant and some Dr.'s saying bad things, its in a topic about "Dr. Williams-8-months what should i do" anyway this is a sincere post so dont get defensive im only looking for a response to what ive stated, i have constantly told people Cole is the place for FUE but now these comments from Pat are making me go hmmmmmm.

Sincerely, Mudpuppy

C

you need to understand how the HTN works. Pat charges doctors about 300.00 and up each month to promote their clinic. He charges members of his coalition 7500 per year. in exchange he promotes them on his forum. Until February 2003 i was a recommended physician on his website. In February 2003 told Pat to take me off his website as a recommended physician. Pat became very angry that both Dr. Wolf and I left his website. he kept sending me bills each month even though i was no longer on his website. When we did not pay his bill, he filed a lawsuit to collect. We went to court, but Pat did not show up.

Since this time, Pat has blocked our capacity to post on his network. he removes anything positive about us and he does everything possible to promote the ones who pay him to sponsor them. Personally, i feel these physicians have a real ethical delimma. On one hand they are paying Pat to say good things about them. On the other hand, they are paying Pat to criticize other physicians so that they can get more business.

you don't need to perform outstanding work to be promoted by Pat. all you need is to send him a check each month. Also, you can do some of the best work in the world, but he'll trash you if you do not pay him to promote you. Just look at the long list of people. there are a number of physicains he promotes that i've never heard of. there are others we routinely perform corrective work for. we were highly regarded on his website up until the time I left his website. from that point on, he has not said anything positive about us. It appears that he is now making unfounded statements that are going to create a legal problem for him in a very short period of time.

the main thing to remember is that Pat is getting very wealthy doing what he does. he makes thousands of dollars each month promoting only those who pay him. I'd recomend that you not take him seriously. he is not an authority on hair transplant surgery. he's a marketing agent for the physicians who pay him.

i can be arrogant and a mavrick, but if you come to my clinic, i'll work my heart out for you. i don't know anyone else in the hair transplant fieild doing the level work we do. strip surgeons are now a dime a dozen that you can find in any city. what we do, is completely different. there are very few who can even do FIT much less put up the consistent results we get. so...if you want FIT, you really should come to our clinic. if you want a strip, you can find that in just about any city.

by the way, i drive a 1999 Lincoln Navigator with 125,000 miles on it.

Mudpuppy,

Thank you for coming to the source with your questions. I will address all your points.

I am concerned that these professionals you spoke to responded to your FIT inquiries with slander about Dr. Cole. As you said, when you pressed the issue, they admitted that IHTI/Dr. Cole is the best practice for FIT/FUE. In other words, they tried to dodge the question but you persisted and they finally admitted what they did not what to say; that this clinic is the best. Why would somebody withhold this information from a patient, like you, who was seeking the best care? Certainly not for your benefit. I can only assume for theirs. Perhaps they were trying to book you for surgery. I am very concerned to hear of physicians acting this way. Do you think they were looking out for your best interest, Mudpuppy? It is “arrogant” to take a pot shot at a doctor who is providing the best care for his patients wouldn’t you agree?

I do not agree that FIT/FUE is risky at this clinic. If these naysayer require proof, please direct them to our website. We have more quality FIT results than other clinic’s have quality strip results. Pain is less with FIT in the donor area, healing is quicker, there is no risk is a scar stretching back. How is this risky in the eyes of STRIP surgeon? How about growth? It is consistently better with FIT with lower transection.

We give an honest evaluation during consults, not a free meeting so that we can sell patients a surgery. It is as simple as that.

I fully understand that your post is a sincere one. I am very appreciative that you have brought this issue to our attention.

I have personally tried to post about Dr. Cole on HTNetwork in the past and my post were deleted. This is called censorship.

If I am understanding you correctly, Mudpuppy, both physicians and salesman alike have tried to mislead you about your options for care in hair restoration. Perhaps you can let us know who these individuals are so that IHTI may address this issue.

Thank you for coming to us with this matter. Please feel free to respond on this thread, via phone, or to


I hope you have found our input on this matter enlightening.

As Dr. Cole said, if you want FIT you really should come to our clinic. This is not arrogance. It is a straight shot from a straight shooter. This is rare in the hair industry as your account clearly illustrates.

There is one other thing that I would like to suggest to you. Do a search on Dr. Cole, Forhair, or Fitlocks on some of the boards. You will find many instances where we all recommend other doctors. Just today a gentleman called me and made it clear that he could not leave his state to get a good hair transplant. Dr. Cole and I both recommended that, since geography was an issue for him, he might seek help from Dr. Rose in nearby Tampa.

We do not withhold information or try to doop people that need help restoring their hair. This is why I am troubled to hear that others in the industry are not so gracious.

Hello again, thank you Dr. Cole And Fitlocks for responding to me, Fitlocks you may have got the wrong impression or i should have been more subtle in my post, The other people i talked to never tried to sway me from your clinic or completely trash Dr. Cole, in fact i met Dr. Rose recently when i was in Dr. Shapiros office and Dr. Rose mentioned that he and Dr. Cole had worked together and Dr. Shapiro said he was sharing info with Dr. Cole on a microscope or something, anyway it was not all a Dr. Cole bashing in my conversations in fact Dr. Shapiro stated that even though he can do FUE and might increase his presence in the field that someone like Dr. Cole who does it everyday would probably be more on top of the game than him, i explain this because there were many positives also mentioned about Dr. Cole and im sorry i should have been more clear about that.

Let me explain more and be more clear as to why i even posted what i did and please believe me when i say it was not to stir up the sh*t.

I have had surgery with Dr. Shapiro 2523 graphs march 2005.
I have also had surgery with Dr. Hasson 3297 graphs Feb. 2006.

No way i could reach my goals with only FUE, believe me i wish i could because i like to shave down often, anyway my "dream" plan from the start of this up and down ride was to get as many graphs from strip as possible and finish with FUE from Dr. Cole, yes ive been researching Dr. Cole from the start and Dr. Cole is my choice for FUE that is why i have asked everyone i talk to about there opinion on FUE and Dr. Cole and sometimes i throw in Dr. Fellers name, anyway i was surprised at some responses and i wanted to hear your thoughts so i posted the negative comments.

also i read EVERYTHING out there so i have already seen your posts and have seen all the pictures i just had to hear your response, it means alot to read Dr. Coles response to my post, it is an interesting situation going on with Pat and his Forum i didnt know all those facts but i assumed something similar to what Dr. Cole said, i came here to confront you on his statements but most of those readers at his forum would just accept it as facts and cross Cole off the list, i will probably be kicked off his site now but oh well.

Another thing you should know is that i always recommend Dr. Cole in my posts if anyone asks about FUE or repair work where FUE is needed.

Thanks again for your time i hope to meet you guys in the future.

Sincerely, Mudpuppy

Sorry to drag on but could you please respond to the allegations of a former consultant of yours saying disturbing things, i understand other Dr.s taking cheap shots but someone from the inside being from your team is a disturbing issue, im sure you agree. thanks in advance

Mudpuppy,
Dr.Cole and his team at IHTI certainly don't need me to defend their work as it speaks volumes on its own but I tought I'd give you some independent input from a patient's perspective.

I've had quite a lot of HT work done over the years with other physicians and can absolutely tell you that Dr. Cole is at cutting edge (no pun intended) of what's going on in the field. The advances in the last few years in FIT instumentation and use of BHT are phenomenal, and you need someone like Dr.Cole at the very top of his game to lead the way.
The true test however is the care and attention to detail he takes with each client as well as the outstanding results, even in cases where other physicians have thrown up their hands and said a case was hopeless. There are many testimonials to this besides mine.

I can't comment on "ex-consultants" negative comments but usually the best organizations become targets simply becuse they are the best.

As for charging a consultaion fee, I think this is the correct thing to do. It means both paries are serious about their intentions and a physians time is critical when you are a small organization and demand is very high.

It sounds like you have researched the whole issue well but there will always be folks who just want to cash in. My advice is that you should count yourself lucky if you ever get the chance for Dr. Cole to do a HT for you.

As you can already tell, you will not hear one bad word from a real patient about Dr. Cole's work or personality, the reason is that they are extremely happy.
Instead of paying attention to those cheap gossip from people that feel threatened from our success as a leading hair restoration group , go ahead and meet with real patients and see what they got to say about Dr. Cole and the team.
I have seen all this "doctors" in IAHRS meetings and believe me many of them fits into the same way they like to slander other good doctors..

Sorry to drag on but could you please respond to the allegations of a former consultant of yours saying disturbing things

We all know about this ex-employee that is so religiously going after us, how surprising...he is also working and promoting other doctors as a living, what a coincidence...oh, did i mentioned that he got "AMAZING" results from Dr. Cole?

Pat is making unfounded statements. i suspect he feels that he can avoid legal liablity by saying that his information is second hand. Anyone can say something negative about anyone else. It may be true and it may be false. in my opinion, if you are going to run a forum, put yourself out there as an unbiased consumer advocate, and charge physicians a fee to promote them, you have a responsiblity to verify anything that is said rather than taking the comments as face value. I've been around the hair transplant world a long time. it is not uncommon for one hair consultant to leave one clinic, go to another clinic, and then begin bashing the physicians he used to work for. Frankly, i don't know for sure who Pat is talking about so i can't comment one way or the other.

I did employ a consultant a few years ago that i let go because he was verbally abusive to every female in the office. When i say verbally abusive, i am putting it mildly. I had to let him go even though i felt we had a good personal relationship. It was not a fun day for me. This consultant had a great hair transplant that both i and dr. shapiro performed. His result was fantastic. When i told him we had to let him go, he took it personally. He was one of my strongest advocates up until that day. he subsequently went on the payroll of some other physicains including Dr. Rose. I've seen him promote these other physicians on the message boards, but he has not ever said anything positive about me since that fateful day. I suspect he harbors deep negative feelings even though i felt we had a good personal relationship. I've had dinner at his home with him andhis wife. Deep down he's a good person and i hated to let him go. Perhaps this is the person Pat is referring too. I don't know, but i do know that this person had a great hair transplant and nothing to complain about.

Let me be clear, Mudpuppy. I do not believe that Dr. Rose or Dr. Shapiro said anything negative to you. I have no reason to believe that. My point is that we like their work (and the work of some other MDs) and, when asked, we achkowledge this. This is only right. I was suprised to here that other medical groups are slinging mud. But I have no reason to think that Rose or Shapiro took part in this. I wanted to make that very clear. I'm sure you have a nice result with SMG too.

I agree with Dr. Cole. there is no doubt in my mind that Pat is talking about this consultant (Gladiator).
As far as i remember we had only one male consultant before "FITLock"...
By the way Mudpuppy,
I think that it's wonderful that you raised all this concerns, you did a great service with this thread because we have a chance here to reveal the real intentions of this individuals that ethics are not their main priority.

Ive been on all the HL boards for too long now and I can confidently say that I know just about everything there is to know about Hair Transplants besides how to actually do them. Ive seen work from countless doctors and have read feedback galor. Ive said it once and I'll say it again. "I have never heard anything negative about the results of scalp FIT hair transplants given by DR. Cole". In the world of cyber HL forums, this is a rarity. Now, in order to be completely honest, there are a few areas which I have read some criticizism.

1) Cost. (even though it is comparable to most FUE docs)
2) The degree of work completed by technicians versus Dr. Cole himself and how this relates to Number 1.
3) In-house consultations are "rushed" and are not comforting.
4) BHT

On another note, I do appreciate the honest feedback given by IHTI on this thread. Ive often wondered the differences on the many HL forums and this confirms something I have always believed.

-Bradley

Bradely,

I would like address some of your points and you can give me your feedback.

1) Cost. (even though it is comparable to most FUE docs)

We have discussed ways to offer a cheaper surgery for patients. The problem we face is that we are developing methods that have literally never been done before. We need to continue to move forward and this is costly for the practice. The cost concern is not lost on us. Just remember that 8/graft is average for FUE. Our results are far above average.

2) The degree of work completed by technicians versus Dr. Cole himself and how this relates to Number 1.

Dr. Cole works all day and controls all surgeries. If anybody thinks that one person can do the type of work we do, they simply do not understand the work.

3) In-house consultations are "rushed" and are not comforting.

We offer consults that last between 30min-1hour. As far as I know this is pretty standard. If we did consults that lasted hours the staff would be doing a surgery without a doctor. We shoot straight during consults. People should take comfort from the fact that we are honest in our evaluation of patients. If a patient thinks of a question later, the answer is an email or call away. If you get me on the phone I will talk your ear off about hair, trust me.

4) BHT

Be concerned about the doctors who use BHT as the first line of defense for hair loss and have no results to support this stance. We have more BHT results than any other practice. Yes, more clear photos of grown BHT than any other practice. Moreover we are forth coming about the limitations of BHT.

Bradely, the practice is not perfect but we want to deliver a great service to our patients. Any comments are welcomed on this board but I hope I clarified some things for you.

Many thanks to Dr. Coles office you have answered all my questions in regards to this thread and my original post on this topic.

Another question for you or actually seeking some opinions here regarding Dr. Coles response to Pats comments, i was thinking about posting Dr. Coles response from above at Pats site "Hairtransplantnetwork" and asking him to explain, i am not on a crusade here but if its true maybe some people at that site need to understand what Pats about more clearly, and Dr. Cole should be able to respond to those harsh comments, it would make me very unpopular there but i can live with that, if your opinion is to let it die here i certainly will, im not looking to be a negative poster im only seeking the truth.

Mudpuppy

People can say all they want, words usually don't solve anyones hair loss prblems.

I have been researching Hair transplant surgeries and surgeons for almost one year. I must admit that Dr. Cole's results have been by far the best in the industry. No other surgeon has actually show ACTUAL photos of patients as Dr. Cole and staff have done. Dr. Cole and staff have never said anything they were unsure of or did not mean. Whenever IHTI expressed their uncertainty and lack of research about body hair transplant some people would become uneasy becuase some other "doctors" claimed otherwise.

As i said, you can say all you want, words dont do a thing. Whether Dr. Cole is arrogant, selfish, Maverick, bad boy, etc. has nothing to do with his exceptional hair transplant results. Results is what counts in the end. I dont care how nice or bad Dr. Cole and staff are, as long as they bring out the desired results.

That's just my two cents on this...

since we are being "honest", here is an allegation from "Pat". I dont normally cross over into that forum, but its rediculous how marketed it is. Ive seen it go like this when there is a concern from a doctor.

>Patient A: "Unacceptable" work from Dr. Nobody
Pat "contacts" doctor Nobody
>Dr. Smith reports his side of story
>Pat supports Dr. Nobody because he is held "high" on their huge list of esteemed HT docs (even though some on the list are still using scalp reductions and the majority are never discussed.)
>Patient B: Dr. Nobody was "great". He did a great job! I have never been happier. (All of a sudden this post comes out of nowhere supporting this doctor from a poster who is new.) Clearly trying to swing the negative pendulum back.
>Dr. Nobody says "see", come Im usually really good adn now i'll offfer a discount.

Geez, you know, I understand that there are some aweful HT docs out therre who can surely ruin a life or two, but some of the fools who don't do research enough need to take some responsibilty as well. This is an important decision, probably one of the most important in your life!

by the way I caught this on the site after just a few moments...

"In my opinion, there are many issues with Dr. Cole that are not apparent to people on the forums. A previous consultant of Dr. Cole's and physicians who have seen his actual patients (offline) and their issues with growth have told me some pretty disturbing information that has not yet been made public on this and other forums.

I advise anyone considering FUE to consider other physicians.

Pat"

Although negative, this is still research....hmmm....

Mudpuppy, there are other very good HT doctors that also charge a fee for consultation, such as Dr Bauman. I believe the physicians use this as a way to ensure that the individulas are serious about getting infon about a HT. I don't believe this is being greedy.

Forget about the $50.00 thing that was a minor part of the post, we will agree to disagree.

I had moved on and let this thread die because Dr. Cole & staff answered my questions, however someone else brought it to Pats board so we started posting and a healthy discussion broke out then Pat sees it and locks the thread after making some more bullshit comments about Dr. Cole, ok fine lock it up you shmuck, but then he comes back and erase EVERYTHING but leaves his bullshit comments posted in a locked thread.

Heres the thing, Many posters over there dont even know about Dr. Cole so they read Pats comments and cross Cole off the list, to me thats not fair so i was glad the topic was brought up over there and Dr. Coles side of the story was told BREIFLY until it was erased by Pat.

My opinion of Pat Hennessy has changed drastically because of these actions, lock the thread fine but dont erase it.

I have not met Pat or Dr. Cole but my research on the internet and speaking with Dr.s & consultants leads me to beleive Dr. Cole is my first choice for FUE surgery when its time.

Sincerely posted by Mudpuppy

Wise and sound conclusion.....................

This is very interesting. Out of curiosity, I went over to the site, and noticed there was a discussion about the coalition that Pat has created over on his site. The discussion was about the fact that the docs who are advertised there have to pay to get into the coalition. A great doc, even the best doc, cannot be on the coalition unless he pays. Does that mean every coalition is bad? Not necessarily, but that is why you have to go beyond that to get the real info.

So anyway, the discussion turned to Dr. Cole, and I just couldn't resist, so I joined the forum and posted a few words, basically stating that we should really only be listening to former patients, and that we should be suspect of any consultants, let alone ex consultants, and take their opinions with a grain of salt. I pointed out the fact that I couldn't find any picture or other evidence on that site, or on any other forums for that matter of Dr. Cole's supposedly questionable work, and that it seemed suspect that they were so vociferously stating that Dr. Cole had "questionable" methods or whatever term he used, but then he offered not one shred of evidence to support his claims about Dr. Cole's work. Of course I lined that up with the dozens (if not more) accounts online of people who had been to Dr. Cole and were impressed with his work, etc. So he comes back with this post about how he knows things about Dr. Cole that nobody else knows, and that Dr. Cole is somehow conspiring to create an online image of himself that is not representative of the truth. Once again, not backing this up with any evidence whatsoever. So basically, he has concluded that Dr. Cole is the author of this master plot to eliminate negative statements about his practice (as if that were possible as much as he works!) on the Internet, when this doctor has been operating out in the open for quite some time now. To be honest with you, this really ticked me off, because in considering going to Dr. Cole, I did notice these posts, and they raised some doubt about things at first. I went ahead and did more research and came to the correct conclusion, but think about how this might affect others. All it takes sometimes is one negative post- backed up with evidence or not- to send someone looking in a different direction, thus eliminating the chance for someone to get the best result for their own case, which I think is incredibly irresponsible.

Well, shortly after Pat posted his reply, I went back to reply again and the entire topic/thread had been removed! What does that tell you about the tactics over there? Told me everything I needed to know.