Miserable Experience and terrible results at CSCHI, Colorado Surgical Center & Hair I

[Strata]

I don’t know any other’s experience at this clinic. I only want to tell my miserable experience at this clinic, CSCHI--- Colorado Surgical Center & Hair Institute. Website: http://www.coloradosurgicalhair.com/

Two years ago I decided to have my second hair transplantation and found CSCHI online. They said that they had more than 20 years of hair restoration experience and they offered a considerable low price ($2/graft). After I talked with Mr. Chris McTyre, I paid the deposit and made an appointment on June 2, 2012.

When I reached the clinic in the morning, Mr. Chris McTyre was not there and a nurse welcomed me. Since the doctor was not there yet, I had more time to chat with the nurses. One of the nurses told me that Dr. Gerald Searle would do the operation for me. He was the most experienced surgeon at this clinic (they had two surgeons at that time) and he had 1.5 years of hair restoration experience. What?! Their most experienced surgeon only has 1.5 years of experience? Then, why did they say that they have more than 20 years of hair restoration experience on their website? Since then I doubt if I made a good choice to visit this clinic and I was considering if I could get my money back if I quit the operation.

After Dr. Gerald Searle arrived, he checked my head and explained the operation to me. I asked him if he can do a good operation and leave smaller scars than my previous operation. I told him that I want to quit if he can’t guarantee his work. He said: Sure, absolutely! I guarantee it.

My doubt was clearly evidenced by what happened next. After Dr. Gerald Searle cut the strip out, he had a huge trouble to close the gap. I clearly heard the sound of the thread stripping the skin when he tried to tight the thread. He told the nurse that he needed to add more stitches. I am not sure how many more stitches he added for my operation. I noticed that he tried to cut more tissues out and tight the threads again and again in order to close the gap. Finally he took more than two hours to finish the operation. They cleaned the blood many times. I knew my donor area was completely messed up. During my previous operation at another clinic, the doctor only took a few minutes to cut the strip out and closed the gap.

Here I want to ask experienced surgeons. Is it normal for a surgeon to finish a hair transportation operation for 2+ hours?

I don’t need to mention that I had to suffer a lot and clean the blood many times on the back side of my head at the night after the operation. In the next morning a nurse insisted on washing my head, both the donor areas and recipient areas (I really don’t understand why they did this). But the nurse tried to avoid touching the big area which was messed up. After head washing, I noticed there were several grafts of hairs on my face. It was disgusting and I grabbed them away. After I went to home and checked my head again, I noticed more fallen grafts of hairs.

My donor areas kept bleeding and discharged something in the following two months after the operation. The total amount was reduced gradually. But I could see them clearly from the towel on my pillow. Two weeks after the operation, I went to a local hospital to have the sutures removed. Two female nurses tried to get the sutures out. But they all quit. Finally, they found the most experienced male nurse to finish the job. It took two hours for him to get all the sutures out. After the work, he shook his head and told me that all the threads were buried deep in the blood scabs and it was hard for him to find all the threads and get all of them out. The surgeon did a very poor work.

After the operation, the donor areas formed a deep trench on my head. I can clearly feel it when I stroke my hairs from the top to the bottom. The donor areas also began to lose hairs. The situation became worse and worse. The area which was seriously messed up by the surgeon lost almost all hairs and became bare. The diameter is about 2.5 inches. Everyone around me noticed it and kept asking me what was going on. It is so embarrassing for me to explain what happened to everyone again and again. I have to leave long hairs in order to cover this area as much as possible. I also try to use a deep hat to cover this area. After the operation, I often suffer from serious headaches and I believe my headaches are related to the operation.

Here are my pictures. Pic01 and Pic02 show my donor area before the operation. Pic03 was taken at home after the option. There is a fallen graft of hairs on the picture. Pic04 and Pic05 were taken 26 days after the operation. Big and thick blood scabs still stay on the donor area. Pic06~09 were taken almost 5 months after the operation. Pic10 was taken almost one year after the operation.

One year after the operation, I began to think about correction on the donor area. When I talked with two surgeons who have 20+ years of hair restoration experience, they all told me that they never saw such big scars in their whole lives and the clinic who did such an operation should take the responsibility. But after so long tough communication with this clinic, they still refuse to take any responsibility. I have to sue them on court.

Even one year after the hair transplantation, I didn’t notice any obvious change on my recipient areas. But my donor areas are ruined and I suffer from everlasting embarrassments and headaches. Did anyone have any even worse experience than mine? I hope my experience will teach everyone a lesson. Please don’t choose those cheap clinics for your hair transplantation any more.

God will send those greedy and irresponsible people into hell!

Recently, I also found that this Dr. Gerald Searle had involved in a serious medical crime (showing by the following link). Was his license suspended?
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...ney-laundering

Who is the owner of CSCHI, Chris McTyre or Dom McTyre? I found that these guys share the same email address and they all responded to my email. Are they the same guy?

Thank you for your reading. Any feedback would be highly appreciated.

[Notcoolanymore]

Not to rub salt in the wound, but your result was pretty bad. One of the worst I have seen. I guess the price was a little too good to be true.

[ejj]

Strata,

Small FUE sessions would be the way to move forward with your repair. I would not attempt revision at all. You will need multiple surgeries to correct this, with each small session will come improvement.

I do not know what your donor supply is like, and cannot really see from the pictures. I would consult with doctors who can use beard and scalp FUE. I would consult with Doctor Cole and Doctor Bisanga, who have many documented repair cases.

Hope this is helpful

ejj

[Strata]

Thank your guys. I contacted them many times and they refused to take any responsibility for their malpractice.

[drybone]

I havent even called. They cant even fill a finasteride prescription for me after multiple efforts. You can spend thousands on a lawyer dude but in the end they will just offer to 'fix' it. You wouldnt really let them loose on your scalp again would you?

[Mattison321]

I have my hair transplant procedure done in the same clinic. Chris/ Dom was horrible in my opinion. He accidentally doubled my loan that I financed through his office. My scar is massive, a solid inch... When I was promised that it would be "thinner than a piece of paper." My results are not that good, very, very thin....

My hair is naturally really thick & curly. I had the procedure just to fix my hair line. I had 2,000 grafts done. But I don't even believe they did that many.

The stitches were so tight and deep that when they took them out big/ deep circles in the donor area came out with them. And I'm positive I still have stitches they left in my head!

Every time I tried to talk to them about any of this, the brushed me off & told me it was all because I was post op.. WTF.

I've never had any type of "plastic surgery" before or after this, but I'm positive this isn't how this was supposed to go down.

Now I just try not to think about it anymore.

[GNX]

this is why is paramount to do ur research and steer clear of FUT. even in the right hands no one has a crystal ball to say wat ur scar will look like. u almost always get wat u pay for and if the price is cheap and the work is good then ur likely not in the US.

[hairhope]

Hello Mattison321,

My experience at Colorado Surgical Center was bad as well. The procedure went ok but after all the scabs fell off I had huge bumps where the grafts were put in. I am in the process of trying to get this resolved with the company now. I will not go back for them to mess things up worse. I received two different loan statements from two different credit companies and now my credit has been affected because of this. My question/suggestion to everyone that has a bad experience please at the very least lets make a complaint with the BBB http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-r...262/complaints At least this may help others that think about using this company.

[hairhope]

.

[drybone]

this is why is paramount to do ur research and steer clear of FUT. even in the right hands no one has a crystal ball to say wat ur scar will look like. u almost always get wat u pay for and if the price is cheap and the work is good then ur likely not in the US.

To be honest with you, guys who have to have at least 2 or 3 operations, FUT is the right option and you DO get what you pay for. My 'scar' is not very big and I paid $3 per graft and then $2 per graft. All total I spent $7800 and ended up with about 1500 grafts that I can actually see as being new where there was nothing before. All told I was promised 3100 grafts .

Take my advise folks, go get a guy who has a proven track record of putting every single graft he says he will , and pay him accordingly. Its better than going through all the aggravation .

I would have far rather had paid $5 per graft if the person would have just put in the damn 3000 grafts properly in one operation. Or 2000 in my case.