Former patients of an Atlanta-based ophthalmologist have filed lawsuits alleging that he botched their plastic surgery and left them with permanent scars.
Dr. Harvey ‘Chip’ Cole, also known as ‘The Eye Guy,’ operates Oculus Plastic Surgery and promises an ‘unparalleled experience,’ according to his website.
Cole has been accused of violating the standard of care in surgeries he performed on four Georgia patients between February 2022 and January 2023.
The procedures were performed at Northside Hospital facilities in both Atlanta and Sandy Springs.
Kayla Cannon, 29, filed her lawsuit against the doctor in February after undergoing surgery by him in February and June 2022.
Cannon claims Cole cut off too much tissue from her eyelids, damaged her eye, and also failed to remove her cheek implants after they became infected.
Cannon, seen here before surgery, was born with a birth defect that means she has no muscles in the lower part of her eyelids and has already undergone multiple surgeries.
She claims Cole cut off too much tissue from her eyelids, damaged her eye, and also failed to remove her cheek implants after they became infected.
Dr. Harvey ‘Chip’ Cole, also known as ‘The Eye Guy,’ operates Oculus Plastic Surgery and promises an ‘unparalleled experience,’ according to his website
Cannon was born with a birth defect that means he has no muscles in the lower part of his eyelids and has already undergone multiple surgeries.
talking to WSBShe said, ‘He said I can cure you, I can make you better.’ “I’ve always struggled with my appearance and I was so excited to finally be happy.”
She told the outlet that she was convinced to undergo cheek implants and eye surgery.
‘He took off half of my top, so it was extremely tight. And he kept saying, I’ll fix it. I’ll fix it. Then I had infections in my cheeks,” he added.
Cannon has undergone seven more surgeries to try to heal the injuries and adds: “I look worse than when I started seeing it.” Permanent scars that will never go away.’
Another plaintiff, who has not been identified but agreed to have her image published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Cole damaged his facial nerves.
The woman claims that the surgery, performed at Northside Hospital Atlanta in 2022, left her partially paralyzed and unable to close her eyes or move her mouth.
Cannon has now undergone seven more surgeries to try to repair the injuries, which she says have left her with permanent scarring.
According to WSB, this is not the first medical malpractice case filed against Cole.
Another claims in another lawsuit that Cole gave her asymmetrical eyebrows when he performed surgery on her. Now she needs Botox injections to keep them even.
The fourth alleges that during a surgery in January 2023, Cole performed procedures that had not been agreed upon or discussed with them.
Lawyer Alex Seay, representing the patients, told WSB: ‘What we have here is a series of poor outcomes.
‘And when you have so many of them, they stop being mistakes and start being a pattern.
“He made promises to fix things and all he did was create permanent problems and injuries. What he did cannot be undone.
Another plaintiff, who has not been identified but agreed to have her image published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says Cole damaged her facial nerves.
Cannon and his lawyer appeared on NewsNation with Ashleigh Banfield last night in his first national television interview.
Scott Bailey, a lawyer for Cole and Oculus, said Cole had met all medical standards in all cases.
He said: ‘He prioritizes patient safety and satisfaction and has dedicated his professional life to the specialty of facial and oculoplastic surgery.
“A basic principle of cosmetic surgery is that each patient’s anatomy is different and that there are known complications that are rare but well recognized.”
According to WSB, this is not the first medical malpractice case filed against Cole.
In 2010, a $1.256 million judgment against him led to a landmark state Supreme Court case that overturned limits on jury awards.
