Patients claim long-lasting harm from procedures by Atlanta plastic surgeon known as ‘The Eye Guy’

ATLANTA — Former patients of an Atlanta doctor allege in a series of lawsuits that he botched plastic surgery procedures leaving them with permanent scarring and injuries.

Dr. Harvey “Chip” Cole calls himself “the eye guy” on the website of his practice, Oculus Plastic Surgery.

Kayla Cannon, 29, was born with a birth defect. She has no muscles at the bottom of her eyelids and has had to undergo multiple surgeries since she was 9 years old.

She said Cole promised a permanent fix.

“He said that I can fix you, I can make you better,” Cannon told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.

Cannon said Cole convinced her to add cheek implants along with the eye surgery.

“I’ve always struggled with my appearance, and I was just very excited to finally get to be happy,” she said.

But instead, Cannon alleges in her lawsuit that she suffered a variety of complications and problems from the surgeries including serious infections and damage to her eyes.

“He took half my lid off, so it was extremely tight. And he kept saying, I’ll fix it. I’ll fix it. Then I got infections on my cheeks,” Cannon said.

Cannon’s lawsuit is one of four filed recently against Cole.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Judge says new Georgia election rules are ‘illegal, unconstitutional and void’
• Former ‘One Direction’ star Liam Payne dead after fall from balcony
• Mixed verdict reached in Sweet 16 shooting that killed 2 teens in Douglas County

Attorney Alex Seay represents the patients and told Gray that she has also heard from several more patients who could soon be filing more lawsuits.

“What we have here is a series of bad outcomes. And when you have so many of them, they stop being mistakes and they start being a pattern,” Seay said.

An Attorney for Cole, Scott Bailey, said they are just beginning discovery and an investigation into the claims.

Bailey said in a statement: “He (Cole) takes this matter seriously and always has the best interests of his patients in mind. However, he denies that he was negligent or otherwise used improper surgical techniques.”

Cannon has now had seven more surgeries to try to correct the injuries her lawsuit alleges Cole caused.

“I look worse than when I started seeing him. Permanent scarring that will never go away,” Cannon said.

These are not the first medical malpractice cases against Cole.

In fact, a $1.256 million judgment against him led to a landmark state supreme court case overturning limits on jury awards in 2010.

Channel 2 Action News has also reached out to Northside Hospital where Cole had privileges and performed surgeries. They declined to comment.

©2024 Cox Media Group