HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

Greetings All:

I write to summarize my excellent experiences with Dr. Cole and his team during the week of June 12.

I previously underwent two strip procedures with Dr. Boles (Dr. Mark Boles) at Nuhart in Pittsburgh 1996-97. As you can see from the attached photos, the results are difficult to live with. Notice, for example, that I have two sizeable scars. When I was told that the scars would be “pencil-thin,” I did not realize that they meant the thickness of the actual pencil rather than width of a pencil’s mark. I had no idea how invasive the procedures would be (see: http://www.angelfire.com/trek/hairtransplant/new.html), and I fell for all of the hard selling techniques documented elsewhere. I was in my early twenties at the time and getting hair transplants was a rash choice I made in a weak moment after getting dumped by my long-term girlfriend. I did some research with the Better Business Bureau and searched aggressively for legal claims against Nuhart (I was an attorney at the time), but the information available now was not within my reach in these early days of the internet. I was naïve and vulnerable enough to believe that all doctors existed to help people rather than disfigure them for profit. Even worse than my own situation, however, is the fact that others continue to undergo surgeries of this sort every day. If you visit Nuhart’s current home page (http://www.nuhart.com), Dr. Boles is the featured physician and they claim to have performed over 25,000 procedures.

This was the worst decision I have ever made, but thanks to forums like these and the help of Dr. Cole I am in the process of taking incremental steps toward improving my situation. As bad as my current photos look, they are already considerably better than how they would look without a session in the summer of 2004 when Dr. Cole planted 500 FIT on the hairline and removed many plugs from the frontal hairline. Without that work these 2006 pre-op photos would be even worse.

I visited Atlanta the week of June 12, 2006, spending four days in the chair. While we do not have an exact graft count, I would estimate that Drs. Cole distributed about 2000 FIT at and behind the hairline. The doctors and staff are a thoughtful, considerate, engaging, and hard working group. The details of FIT have been relayed many times, so I will spare you those details expect to say that I felt no noteworthy pain in four days of work. With religious use of the Biotin spray all of my scabs were off within a week.

Dr. Cole also removed about half of the most offensive grafts in the crown, divided them into follicular units, and re-implanted them into the crown. I have been in correspondence with Dr. Cole since 2000, and even then I was immensely impressed with his ability to extract plugs. At the time I was following the work of Dr. Woods, and Dr. Cole’s documentation of his work on extracted plugs was even more encouraging than that of Dr. Woods. Dr. Cole can remove plugs, even at the hairline, without leaving any trace that they were ever there. That was very encouraging to someone in my situation, and I can now be confident that removing the Nuhart plugs is only a matter of time and money.

Perhaps of most interest to readers is Dr. Cole’s practice of “recharging” the donor area with body hair. Whereas in the past individual grafts where removed via FIT and left “empty” to heal, Dr. Cole filled many of the holes left when extracting grafts from the head with body hair. Thus as Dr. Cole was extracting scalp hair and leg hair. The leg hair was then inserted into the very holes just made in the scalp donor area. This has at least two significant benefits. First, while FIT never left much in the way of a visible “scar,” overharvesting could lead to an aberrant pattern of stubble if one shaved the area down to skin or a “one” on the clipper guard. This might be unnoticeable to most, but for those seeking a very short cut this recharging approximates a perfect look because it replaces hair as it goes. Given my strip scars, I’m probably not able to enjoy this benefit. The second advantage, however, could be of great benefit to those like me who have depleted their donor area. Relocating the body hair to the scalp allows them to take on scalp characteristics, and cycling body hair through the donor in this manner greatly increases the number of grafts available long term. Also given that many of us wear our hair shorter on the sides and longer on the top, the limited length of body hair makes it more appropriate for the sides of the scalp and thus leaves the native scalp donor hair for placement in recipient areas where it can work to greatest cosmetic effect.

I will post photos of my results at six months and beyond. Especially given the use of body hair, results will take at least a year to judge. I hope to return to Dr. Cole in a year or two to continue to extract plugs, fill in the crown a bit, and work on the scars. I owe Dr. Cole and his staff my deepest gratitude. Thank you all. Please ask any questions that my experiences might be able to illuminate. I have spent far too much time and emotional energy on this process, and I would feel like I got more mileage out of those efforts by helping others.

twa - I read your story , you're in great hands now - no worries anymore... happy healing - best of growth to you!

Here are the photos of wta per his request:

just curious - how much of the donor still exists and can be transferable via FIT?

DR. COLE IS DA MAN!!!

are we gonna see the results too?

While growth is steady, I am only at three months and change. I will post photos at 6-8 months.

Hey twa,
I went to the same Jackass at nuhart! He messed up my frontal hairline too...the nice thing is I only went once and just did a 800graft session.
I was on the phone with Dr Cole's office two weeks prior but I still went to nuhart because of the price..now I realize you cannot put a price on this!
I set a consult of with Dr Cole a year ago and now I have the funds to fix the nuhart fiasco...things are getting fixed around April...I cannot believe the results he is capabable of producing!!!

Just wanted to let you know you were not alone with the nuhart scam..I fell for it also....

notice my screen name..(dontdonuhart)..

Including two butchers, I have had procedures completed with 5 HT surgeons. Dr. Cole is the only one that developed the drive to perfection lacking in this industry. There are plenty of surgeons that are able to create acceptable results, but very few, if any, push the envelope to acheive the types of results found with Dr. Cole. This is particularly true in terms of repair, where my surgeon told me I was done. Its true that I did look good, but there were still a few things that bothered me and Dr. Cole was willing an very capable in helping me in these areas.

Greetings All:

I pasted below my previous post recounting my hair transplant history. In short: I had two disfiguring procedures in the mid 90’s. Dr. Cole removed plugs and planted a combination of 2000 head and body FIT in June 2006. Before and after pictures are attached.

Allow me to make a few comments in addition to the judgments you will draw from the photos:

1) I am very pleased with the results thus far. In a case like mine, progress gives hope. Dr. Cole has proven once again that he can work magic with a relatively small number of grafts.

2) I still feel a considerable amount of stubble growing in, as much as I did at any stage over the last eight months. So I think it is reasonable to expect more hair. Especially in cases using significant amounts of body hair, I think we tend to evaluate the quality of a transplant far too soon. I think 18 months in a case like mine probably provides the best measure.

3) Even given that, I still obviously have a ways to go. As finances allow, I hope to fill in the crown, continue to remove plugs, and work on the strip scars. Dr. Cole has removed plugs from the hairline, but you can see in photo 5 that it is still pretty rough and refining it might allow me to wear the hair back a bit more and achieve better coverage.

4) Patients in cases like mine should take great comfort from these photos that document his ability to remove plugs. Notice the bald patch in photo #7. That use to be filled with about 30 six to ten hair plugs. In that area, at least, those are gone.

5) My body donor cites healed at very different rates. My chest cites healed completely within ten days, even returning to completely normal coloration. My legs took several months to fade but are now also healed completely.

6) I am not certain of the ratio of body and head FIT because Dr. Cole was fitting me in when he could over the week and we lost count. My guess would about two head grafts for every one body graft.

I again extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Cole and his compassionate staff. I look forward to seeing you all again in the coming years.

The two first photos have been organized by forhair, thanks for helping me

Here is another comparison

thats a great improvement, i hope you are feeling better now with your hair, its great progression. Are you planning anything further?