From reading the previous entries as well as the title of this website, I realize that this is a complaint board. However, I have some wonderful things to say about Dr. Coleman. Before I begin I will say that I know how angry some of you feel because I also did not like Dr. Coleman for quite sometime. I felt like I overpaid for the work that he did on me and I felt like he made me look swollen. It was not until I went back to Dr. Coleman’s office eight months after my operation for my second set of pictures that I realized that he had done an amazing job on my face. I will say this again, it was not until I went back to Dr. Coleman’s office eight months after my operation for my second set of pictures that I realized that he had done an AMAZING JOB on my face!!!
Honestly, I felt like crap afterwards for hating him and wanting bad things to happen to him. I cannot put to words how much I hated him. I hope that these kind words will make up for any negative energy that I threw his way (I need as much good karma as possible), this is the least I can do. Before I share my story I will let you know that I have not been paid by Dr. Coleman to write positive things about him nor will I get free or reduced surgery from him in the future. I will definitely be getting more surgery from him and have referred him to my mother (who had her hands done), my sister (who had her breasts corrected) and my best friend, who told me about this complaint board. The name I am using is not my real name but what I am telling you is the absolute truth.
I am a 47 year-old male living in Marin County. Two years ago (after a messy divorce) I decided I wanted to do something about the bags underneath my eyes. I wanted to start dating again and I wanted to look my best to attract attractive women. I looked like I was 55 years old. I went to three different plastic surgeons in the Bay area and the third, Dr. Tim Miller, referred me to Dr. Coleman. He had recently seen Dr. Coleman speak at a conference and was impressed with what he had to say and liked his before and after photos. He said that you shouldn’t cut the bags out of the face, but inject fat around them. He met a plastic surgeon and his wife at the same conference that had absolutely amazing work done on them by Dr. Coleman and that I should think about seeing Dr. Coleman. So I went to his office in New York City.
I was amazed with the before and after photos (and looked at them close up to see if they were the real deal). Other that the light and color being matched up on the photos, I am absolutely certain no other thing had been used to doctor the photos (I should know, I do computer animation for the motion picture industry). I met with Dr. Coleman and he assessed my face. I found out that the area above my eye lids also needed to be filled in and that I needed some filling in my jaw and smile line area. The amount he was going to charge was a lot ($45, 000) and they dropped off some money. I thought about the price over the next week and thought about the prices that the other doctor’s had quoted. I figured that if I could spend $76, 000 on a car, $41, 000 on my face is no big deal. Hey, it is my face and I might as well get one of the best plastic surgeons in the world to make it better since I was going to live with it the rest of my life.
I had the surgery done and when they took off the bandages a few days later, I looked very bad. The people in the office had told me that I was going to look bad, but I didn’t think that I was going to look like someone had beaten me up like that. I looked like I was in a bad fight, got into a car wreck and had and allergic reaction.
Luckily, I was able to do the bulk of my office work at my house over the next few months, but I still had to go into work periodically for meetings. I felt very self-conscious because the first day back at the office a number of colleges stopped me and asked what had happened. I told them that I had an allergic reaction to some medication and it was taking a while for the swelling to go down. Again, I felt very self-conscious. Every time I looked in the mirror all I could focus on was the swelling. In hindsight, I was obsessing too much about what I looked like. I think it would have probably been better to have put sheets over all of the mirrors in the house so I wouldn't look at my face.
I wanted to start going on dates, but I couldn’t because felt I looked freaky. After a while I figured out that I did not look as bad if I wore my ski sunglasses, so I wore them all the time when I was out in public, even at night. I became really upset after 6 months because I still felt like I was freaky (actually I was fine). I will say that I accomplished an incredible amount of work the first 6 months. One good thing to come out of this was that I got a major bonus out of spending all that time working from home and not going out as much. But I was not going on too many dates, which was the whole reason for me getting the plastic surgery done in the first place!
At month 8, I had had enough. I was going to Connecticut to visit my parents, so I decided that I was going to drop by Dr. Coleman’s office and see what he could do to fix my swelling, and on his dime. I called the office and made the appointment. I went into the office in the morning and they said that I had to get a second set of pictures taken. I was really mad because I was going to have to wait, but I was a little happy that the fallow up visit and the pictures were free. While waiting in the waiting room I was getting angrier and angrier. The office patient care woman, Peri, drove me crazy with her whiney voice and I really wanted to put some duct tape on her mouth to make her quiet (I recently found out Peri is not working there any more thank God). Luckily, I didn’t have to tape up Peri’s mouth and I met with Dr. Coleman to go over the photos. He showed me the before and after pictures and he explained what he had done to my face and abdomen (where he took out the fat). It was absolutely amazing. I could totally see how he made me better looking. The only thing I can think as to the reason why I even thought the way I did was that I forgot the way that I used to look –right before the surgery. I think that when I was really swollen, I just started focusing on that I was swollen. He showed me close ups of my face and I have to say he has made my skin younger. I look more like the way I was in my 20’s now, than I did when I was in my mid 30’s!!!
For those of you reading this posting that are unhappy, I would suggest going back to Dr. Coleman’s office, getting your pictures taken and sitting down with Dr. Coleman to look over the pictures. I am certain that if he made an error he would step up to the plate and fix the mistakes that he made. He has integrity and I know this because I am an excellent judge of character. For those of you considering plastic surgery from Dr. Coleman, make sure that you go back for follow up pictures, I can almost guarantee you will be happy with the results when you see those before and after pictures.
PS. I just called the NY State Department of Health and checked the website. Dr. Coleman has no reported violations. |
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