Victim of two botched procedures over twenty years ago, Joe Tillman particularly has a reputation for considering patients’ best interests. Dr. Cole also emphasizes putting patients first and is among the facilitators of this year’s joint FUE Europe and IAHRS gathering. There, surgeons and patient advocates will intermingle, discuss best practices, and explore the latest available techniques. Join us for this landmark event in Manchester, UK, this June 6th to 8th!
Summary of Hair Transplant Mentor’s Endorsement
A video shy of 20 minutes, Joe Tillman first offers important background about Dr. Cole. Mentioning such is essential; quality surgeons have different strengths and use different methodologies. Those familiar with Dr. Cole’s reputation are likely aware of his accomplishments, as Joe Tillman puts it: “Here’s the thing; Dr. Cole is a pioneer. He is a groundbreaker. He is an innovator.” Then he offers reasons important to him as to why:
- “He was the first doctor to transition, full time, into FUE in all of North America.”
- “And yes, he’s performing each and every procedure himself.”
- “He’s always innovating to produce new products, new tools, new equipment, for the hair transplant field.”
- “In fact, his manual CIT® punch is probably the most popular, the single most used, hand punch worldwide.”
- “He’s taking it upon himself to do what he can to improve the industry overall.”
Dr. Cole’s current methods and innovations are among the most effective available. Always at the forefront of hair restoration, his clinics offer a number of enhanced treatments and techniques. As those familiar with Forhair well know, Cole Isolation Technique (CIT®) is proven to have one of the highest per-follicle success rates available (over 97%) while minimizing noticeable scarring.
Unique treatments, meanwhile, include cytokine rich plasma (CRP), an advanced versioning of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) that, in conjunction with ACell, leads to complete follicular activation and growth in half the time (six months) as procedures without the treatment. Such treatments and similarly effective options, notably follicular stem cell treatments, are great for transplants but also promote growth as standalone options. Finasteride often eschewed due to side effects from ingestion, is now available as a topical shampoo that leads to outstanding results.
Joe Tillman’s Standards for Recommendation
The recipient of numerous transplants, Joe Tillman is keenly aware of clinic best practices. Further, his prolonged exposure to the industry and later involvement amounts to nearly two decades. He has seen the field, and particularly FUE, develop with new technique variants as well the introduction of new equipment and treatments.
Knowledgeable of both yesteryears’ and today’s options, Joe Tillman is one of the industry-aware, and scrupulous, patient advocates within hair restoration. He knows what is effective, ineffective, obsolete, and cutting edge. Also vital, his assessments of hair transplant quality is spot-on; necessary in a field where a growing amount of surgeons are misinforming or duping patients.
As one can expect, criteria for endorsement by Hairtransplantmentor.com is particularly stringent; Joe Tillman has rejected several popular clinics due to lack of cohesive expertise. His personal story doubtless is a major influence, as clinics that botch generic transplants most certainly lack the expertise to perform repair work as well as use subpar equipment and treatments. In his own words, Joe Tillman judges a clinic thus:
- “Experience to where I feel like they can do multiple types of procedures.”
- “Hairlines and crowns and such like that, but also repair work.”
- “Evidence that they know how to think outside the box”
Joe Tillman resoundingly concludes Forhair exceeds these standards. As important, he examines, case by case, why each of them marks a standard for the transplant type. Cases focus on FUE and repair work but Forhair also offers rarer techniques such as body hair transplants (BHT) and no-shave FUE.
Analysis of Forhair’s Results from a Top Patient Advocate
Every head of hair is unique. Surgeons must be aware of overall aesthetics, though, as well as overall indicators of a realistic transplant. Reputable third-party advocates such as Joe Tillman are essential for this reason, as they are aware of transplant quality but lack the vested interest of establishing overly lenient standards that antiquated or less scrupulous doctors may push. From Joe Tillman’s presentation, these signs of quality are always what he seeks.
“Hair at the front should lay forward, kinda flat against the scalp, maybe not quite flat, but a few degrees from the plane of the scalp, and that’s what’s going on here because Dr. Cole knows how to place the grafts, how to make the incisions, which determine the angle and direction of how they exit the scalp.”
“It (the transplant) is very natural looking, which is the first priority, and the (crown) whorl pattern was re-created properly, and when we looking at the front he’s pulling off this Cesar style so he can brush it forward. It’s a really strong result that is a massive improvement from where he was.”
“Crown work is notoriously difficult to pull off, in fact it’s so difficult that there’s still a lot of clinics that won’t touch the crown because they know that they can’t get it natural enough or that they just don’t know how to do it in general, but Dr. Cole does know how to perform crown work as evidenced by this case; 754 grafts placed into an obviously balding crown and one year later you got a significant improvement.”
“This patient had around 900 grafts and you can see, obviously, very balding in the beginning, but then (with) the after photo, or the result, you can see the flow of how the grafts were replaced, and the reason why you can see this flow, or this direction, and how it changes, it’s because that’s how hair grows naturally.”
“Here’s a pluggy hairline repair where the previous procedure was mini-micrografting so the grafts had multi-hairs in each one, or most of them, and when you combine the fact that it’s coarse, black hair on fair, pale skin it just even makes it worse, but Dr. Cole was able to transplant 900 grafts in front of the hairline and into the hairline for blending and when you look at the comparison, before and after on both angles, and then the after was on both angles, it’s a fantastic improvement.”
Thanks for the Spectacular Endorsement!
Dr. Cole’s and Forhair’s sweeping endorsement from Joe Tillman is rare; he is Hairtransplantmentor.com’s ninth specialist to receive a major feature on the site. Aware of Dr. Cole for years, and occasionally a collaborator in furthering patient advocacy, Joe Tillman’s backing reflects the growing necessity of finding established surgeons in good repute.
Patients nowadays must critically assess clinics’ standing, as always, and the backgrounds of advocates promoting said clinics. Numerous hair transplant sites are less critical than Hairtransplantmentor.com. Less scrupulous “advocates” may even misinform patients for kickbacks. Joe Tillman, if anything, is in total rejection of such crookedness; he has proven for years to be among the most critical, informed, and upright figures within patient advocacy. Dr. Cole and Forhair particularly appreciate his endorsement for this reason. Thanks, Joe!
Considering a transplant or treatment? Contact us today to learn more about why Dr. Cole and Forhair are among today’s premier clinics worldwide. Most patient consultations, free at Forhair, often only require a 720p camera for a precise assessment. Keeping reading for a full transcript of Joe Tillman’s endorsement.
Transcript
“It’s another good day and if you’re a subscriber to this channel and you’ve been following me for any amount of time worth noting then you know if it’s a good day I’m usually going to be talking about another doctor joining Hairtransplantmentor.com.
In this case, we’re going to be talking about Dr. John Cole of the Forhair Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. And before I get into explaining more about Dr. Cole and why he’s now an accepted Hair Transplant Mentor Clinic I need to tell you a little about how I screen clinics.
When clinics and doctors approach me when they send me an email, I present them a list of things that I need so I can start my research about their clinic. And one of the things I’m looking for is enough experience to where I feel like they can do multiple types of procedures. Not just hairlines and crowns and such like that, but also repair work. I need to look and see evidence that they know how to think outside the box. And through this process I’ve turned down several clinics over the past several years, that have applied simply because they didn’t have experience or, of course, they didn’t have the aesthetic, and, y’know, whole bunch of other reasons.
But with Dr. Cole, experience is not a problem. In other words, when you’re online looking at all the different websites for all the different clinics you might consider you’re going to see one (common) word is pioneer. But here’s the thing; Dr. Cole is a pioneer. He is a groundbreaker. He is an innovator.
Why? Well, I was around when this first happened, but he was the first doctor to transition, full time, into FUE in all of North America. So, in other words, he’s been performing FUE a long damn time. If fact, now I don’t have the stats to back this up, but he probably has performed more FUE than anyone else on the planet. And yes, he’s performing each and every procedure himself. And of course, when I’m talking about being an innovator, Dr. Cole rises to that description simply because he has his own company where he’s always innovating to produce new products, new tools, new equipment, for the hair transplant field. In fact, his manual CIT punch is probably the most popular, the single most used, hand punch worldwide.
But enough about that, you want to know what his results look like so let’s get busy. There’s a lot to cover. When I look at results one of the first things I look for are cases of extreme or aggressive hair loss just like I used to have. When looking at Dr. Cole, he’s no stranger to these kinds of cases.
First Case
This (first) one really stood out to me that I thought was worth sharing. This guy was really bald. When you look at his transformation it is pretty impressive simply because of the real estate Dr. Cole had to deal with. So one procedure, just under 3600 grafts, for the first session, there were three sessions, got the hairline established and coverage for the front. One thing to notice, when you look at the profile, the hair direction is lying forward, as it should, when you look at hair from profile. Hair at the front should lay forward, kinda flat against the scalp, maybe not quite flat, but a few degrees from the plane of the scalp, and that’s what’s going on here because Dr. Cole knows how to place the grafts, how to make the incisions, which determine the angle and direction of how they exit the scalp.
That’s really nice just for one pass but we got two more passes; 1,807 grafts, used to build out the perimeter of the crown which was very bald, and then a couple of months later he did 1272 grafts right in the center, to finish out that whirl pattern, for the result you see here.
Now, it’s not really thick, it’s not really dense, but we’re talking about a massive area and for the number of grafts we’re that we’re using this is a killer result. It’s very natural looking, which is the first priority, and the whirl pattern was re-created properly, and when we looking at the front he’s pulling off this Cesar style so he can brush it forward. It’s a really strong result that is a massive improvement from where he was.
Second Case
Now speaking of crown work, that was another another of my favorite subjects because crown work is notoriously difficult to pull off, in fact it’s so difficult that there’s still a lot of clinics that won’t touch the crown because they know that they can’t get it natural enough or that they just don’t know how to do it in general, but Dr. Cole does know how to perform crown work as evidenced by this case; 754 grafts placed into an obviously balding crown and one year later you got a significant improvement. It’s not full density but it is full coverage which is a massive improvement overall.
One thing to notice is that, when zooming in, on the center part of the crown for surgery you can see that there’s graft work already there, so he already had a transplant, and when show the after result we can see that whirl pattern has been extended and areas that were pretty bald are now covered nicely.
Third Case
I’ve always been a fan of patient submitted photos and this is no different. This patient had around 900 grafts and you can see, obviously, very balding in the beginning, but then (with) the after photo, or the result, you can see the flow of how the grafts were replaced, and the reason why you can see this flow, or this direction, and how it changes, it’s because that’s how hair grows naturally. If you look at someone that isn’t balding you’ll see these waves and these subtle changes to the direction, that kinda flows like a river, and that’s what this looks like; you got the whirl pattern at top, but then as it comes down the top of the scalp, it comes back around slowly and softly, changes direction to the top of the scalp where hair is generally going forward towards the hairline. So it’s a very nice transition with just about 900 grafts in one pass.
Fourth Case
Moving along, we got another subject in mind that is near and dear to my heart, and that is repair cases. Not every hair transplant doctor need to be able to be skilled and experienced with repair work. But if they’re going to take on repair work they damn well better be skilled and experienced with repair work:
Cases like this are not seen every day but when you do see them they just warm your heart. Strip scar, very wide, this one was about an inch wide, not just in the back but on the left side and the right side; 482 grafts were transplanted into the scar and the result is some pretty damn good growth so that while it’s not perfectly camouflaged its visibility is probably reduced by probably 90 to 95 percent. It’s a phenomenal, one pass improvement for the donor scar.
Fifth Case
Here’s a pluggy hairline repair where the previous procedure was mini-micrografting so the grafts had multi-hairs in each one, or most of them, and when you combine the fact that it’s course, black hair on fair, pale skin it just even makes it worse, but Dr. Cole was able to transplant 900 grafts in front of the hairline and into the hairline for blending and when you look at the comparison, before and after on both angles, and then the after was on both angles, it’s a fantastic improvement but then the devil’s in the details; when we zoom in we can see the finer hairs that are single hair grafts in front of the old work, you can’t really see the old work now. It’s very well camouflaged so that now the patient has a normal looking hairline.
Sixth Case
Here’s a bit more of a dramatic hairline repair where it’s not just the hairline, it’s the frontal third of the scalp, from the hairline and back and he had a previous procedure before ever coming to Dr. Cole; poor growth, had really miniaturized hair, native hair, was really thin, really fine, it wasn’t growing very long, So that’s why we have the appearance in this before image and then 2700 grafts, I think 2717 grafts, FUE, one procedure, and it’s these kinds of results that really make me smile because he can spike his hair, he’s got the volume, and if you want to see more of this, you can check him out online, he’s got his own Youtube video. It’s worth having a look.
*Latest photos of this patient sent on April 16, 2019
Seventh Case
We got this patient right here that doesn’t really have a bad hairline. It’s simply a bit recessed and not just in the corners but also in the center. This is a fairly common pattern, not really documented in the Norwood pattern uh, per say, but when Dr. Cole comes across these cases he can deal with them simply by filling in the gaps, rounding out the frontal hairline, so that the weakness in the erosion of the hairline is no longer an issue.
Eighth Case
This is the kinda case where I see, fairly often, when a clinic will present the case and then the viewers will or patients or people interested in a result will comment it’s not really that great because they had it shaved. Well, that’s true in a lot of cases but cases like this, not so much. Let’s examine why. When we look at this case we can see that, yes, obviously his hair is short, or shorter, than he might want it but, looking at the tempol and the frontal tuff of the forelock you can see in between that area is a gate gap; that’s where the hair isn’t growing on this patient, but when we look at the final result and look at that same area, you can see there is a strong wall of hair there and not only is it growing very well, but it’s also blending in with the hair in front and the hair in back. The angles, the direction, it’s seamless and it looks like he never lost it.
Ninth Case
We have the same situation going on with this patient; it’s almost an identical case. 2500 grafts were used to fill in the frontal zone. He does have a forelock, it is kinda short in the picture, but he’s got the gap between the forelock and the temple, and once it’s grown in this one-year post-op it’s undeniable it bends and flows as if he never lost his hair.
Tenth Case
Here’s another result where he’s not only got the wet before photo, we’ve also got the dry before photo, which is important, and then we go from the before photo to the after photo; this is 2872 grafts in two procedures and we not only have the overhead shot but then we get to look at the hairline, and this is, I like this kind of work because you can see the soft transition zone that was created with single hair grafts so that we have a very natural hairline that you would never be able to pick out on the street as having had a hair transplant, or that it would be a transplant.
Eleventh Case
Another really great transformation, we got very thin hair at the top, you can see the placement of the grafts, just shy of 3700 grafts used in this procedure for the conversion to the result, fully grown here, it’s a very big improvement for coverage but then we look at the hairline we can see the before image is pushed back a little bit, slightly wet, but then the after photo phenomenal change and because it’s dry and because it’s close up we can zoom in and see the beautiful work and the soft transition zone, the single hair grafts, creating naturalness.
Twelfth Case
Another great transformation, and this time we’re looking at another Norwood 5 with a forelock, meaning a Norwood 5 pattern, he’s got the bridge of hair across the top, but he’s got the forelock in the central, frontal hairline. 3394 grafts and one procedure and the transformation…do I have to explain it? Okay, I’ll explain it. So, obviously the front is taken care of, a much stronger appearance, I wish you could see his face because the improvement on his overall appearance is, it’s like 15 years have been taken off his appearance, but when we look at the details I want you to see the hairline.
One pass, we zoom in on this thing, and there’s three things I want you to look at here; the soft transition zone, the high density is not brought to the very front, that’s appropriate in some cases, other cases it’s not, this case could have gone either way, but with a soft transition zone it’s beautiful. Very soft, very natural looking, a very, very strong ration of single hair grafts, just as it should be, just as it’s found in nature, but another thing is how he blended the hairline into the new temple points that were also reconstructed. So, when you’re looking at the direction of hair, from the front and then back into the corner, you can see how it’s fanning, and changing direction, down into the temple point and that is the mark of a master hair transplant physician because most of the hairline/tempol work I see out there is nowhere near as good as this, much less looking natural. This is as natural as it gets.
Conclusion
And that’s it. That’s our rap. That’s a summary of why I believe that Dr. Cole is right for Hairtransplantmentor.com, he’s right for the Youtube channel, he might be right for you if you’re looking for a hair transplant doctor you owe it to yourself to give Dr. Cole and the Forhair clinic a serious look. He checks all the boxes; he’s certainly got the experience, he certainly has the artistry, he certainly has the understanding of how hair grows, and he does the procedure himself, he does have technicians, but he’s the only one who’s extracting those grafts, he’s making the incisions for the grafts to be placed, so all the cutting is done by Dr. Cole.
Speaking of the experience, in sight of things, Dr. Cole is sharing his knowledge with doctors from around the world on a regular basis, so not only is he experienced in the procedure, he’s taking it upon himself to do what he can to improve the industry overall by spreading his knowledge to multiple clinics, multiple doctors. He does this all the time, which is a good thing because it talks to his dedication and his passion for this industry being the best it can be. The only problem with scheduling is he might be out of town, training someone, but if you can get around that then he obviously, at least to my mind, is someone that is a phenomenal consideration for your hair transplant needs if you do think that you need a hair transplant. So always remember, hair transplant surgery is always a last resort; try your medications, try shaving your head, try other non-surgical options first, because once you cut you can’t go back.
That’s it. Thanks for watching, consider Dr. Cole, and stay tuned for the next video.”
