Recently, the reporter of the main station's "Financial Investigation" found that a chain organization specializing in vision improvement business claims that it can allow children to do not have injections, medicines, or surgeries, and only use the "magic medicine" and "magic instrument" they developed to massage, smear, and atomize the eyes, which can improve their eyesight and easily remove their glasses.
Myopia can be treated with massage, is this institution really so magical?
None of the thousands of stores are medically qualified
However, it claims to have cured more than 30,000 myopia patients
In the promotional video, an organization called "ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Lens Removal Center" claims to have more than 1,600 stores in more than 400 cities across the country. The agency claims to be able to cure myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism, amblyopia, presbyopia and other eye diseases, and quickly remove the glasses.
In order to find out, the reporter came to the ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Center store in Changsha, Hunan, and the store staff told the reporter that the vast majority of consumers who came to their store to improve their vision were children, and the entire institution had helped more than 30,000 myopia patients successfully remove their glasses.
The agency claimed that it would not give injections, take medicine, or operate, and it would be effective on the spot and invalid refunds. The staff also introduced a number of successful cases of vision improvement to reporters.
The staff also specifically claimed to be medical institutions, but when the reporter asked for the relevant medical qualifications of these institutions, the staff could not provide them.
On the business license hanging in the store, the reporter saw that the business scope of this vision improvement and lens removal center was clearly written: health care services (non-medical), and there was no content of vision improvement and lens removal.
This is not the only store that calls itself a "medical institution". The chain of ME optometry and vision improvement centers in Zhejiang, Yunnan and other places all claim to be medical institutions, but none of them have medical qualifications.
The grooming device acts as a medical device
The 100-year-old secret health cream is actually a skin care product
Although they do not have medical qualifications, these institutions are vigorously carrying out medical practices such as improving vision and removing glasses. Because business is booming, some people even join several stores. So, how exactly do they improve the eyesight of consumers?
The staff of the ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Center told reporters that they have three "magic weapons": one pass, two adjustments and three supplements.
- "Tong" means to dredge the meridians
The staff mysteriously introduced to the reporter that their unique secret to improving eyesight is a small bottle of green stuff used when massaging the eyes, and the service staff in the store called it "a century-old clairmind health care ointment", which contains 24 flavors of traditional Chinese medicine.
The name of the product on the outer packaging of this claireye health cream is Bright Eye Radiance Eye Balm, and the effect is to "replenish moisture to the skin around the eyes and improve the dryness and dehydration of the skin around the eyes". The product label does not have the 24 flavors of Chinese medicine mentioned by the clerk, nor does it indicate other therapeutic functions. According to the provisions of the national product labeling, this product can only be classified as ordinary cosmetics.
- The second "magic weapon" is "tune"
"Conditioning" is the treatment of the eyes through "the latest dynamic eye care technology that simulates outdoor natural light". According to reports, conditioning must be carried out through the "ME era vision enhancement instrument", and the staff declared that this mysterious instrument is "one of the top ten academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a medical equipment ...... developed by the state with an investment of more than one billion yuan and seven years"
In fact, the manufacturer of this ME vision trainer is Shenzhen Shangmei Beauty Technology Co., Ltd., and the approved production qualification is a life beauty instrument, which has nothing to do with medical devices.
When experiencing the device, reporters were asked to follow the trajectory of letters and red dots inside the instrument with their eyes, far or near, or in circles or panning. The staff repeatedly told the reporter not to blink, as long as he blinked, there would be no therapeutic effect.
During the experience of about nine minutes, the reporter endured the discomfort and insisted on not blinking, tears flowed, and his eyes were sore and painful, but the staff said that this was even if the treatment effect was achieved.
- The last "magic weapon" is "supplement"
"Tonic" is a mysterious liquid made from 24 kinds of precious herbs that is added to the eye patch to atomize the eyes. However, on the outer packaging of this eye wash, there is no production batch number of medical devices and drugs, and it is clearly indicated: this product is for external use and cannot replace drugs or medical devices.
In addition to "one pass, two adjustments and three supplements", the institution also has a series of products such as soothing eye patches and bright eye soothing milk, which claim to supplement nutrition to the eyes and help improve vision. However, the reporter inquired about the outer packaging of the products and found that the approved production numbers of these products are all approved numbers for cosmetics, not the batch numbers of regular health care products or drugs.
Boast of curative effects and design words
Who is making up the myth that myopia is reversible?
The reporter participated in the training experience class of Meixin Group Co., Ltd., the head office of ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Lens Removal Center, to solicit franchisees. At the investment training site, Yan Yingying, chairman of every new group company, declared: You can take off your glasses for seven days at 500 degrees, and we can do it within the age of 18.
The staff said that the miraculous curative effect stems from dozens of patent certificates obtained by the company in six and a half years and investing 1.5 billion yuan in research and development funds. However, the reporter found that most of the specific contents of these patents are patents for lighting fixtures, laser headlamps, device structures, etc., and there is no substantial content to improve vision.
The reporter also found in the industrial and commercial registration information of the company's registration that the business scope of every new group co., LTD. clearly reads: life beauty services, and there is also no medical service content for vision improvement and lens removal.
The investment manager said frankly that the reason why these ME optometry and vision improvement center chain institutions dare to claim invalid refunds is because after a set of conditioning massage, the vision will indeed be temporarily improved, but it will not last long. As a result, the common behavior of using mobile phones and looking at computers in daily life has become a "shield" to cope with the rebound of consumers' eyesight.
The reporter also found some consumers for verification, and these consumers all said that their vision rebounded and had no effect.
Expert: There is currently no way to reverse true myopia
In this regard, Wang Kai, chief physician of the Optometry Center of Peking University People's Hospital, said that among the current methods in the world, none of them is truly effective in reversing true myopia.
Li Li, director of the Department of Ophthalmology at Beijing Children's Hospital, also said that myopia is often related to the growth of the eye axis, and it is difficult to make the growth of the eye axis shorter, so myopia is irreversible. In addition, although local massage around the eyes can relieve eye fatigue, it is not a scientific treatment for myopia. If parents use massage instead of wearing glasses, it is easy for children to aggravate myopia, and it may also cause lesions around the retina.
Starting from 2022, it took just over a year for every new group company to develop 1,653 franchise stores, covering nearly 400 cities. The staff of each new company told reporters that by 2025, each new group plans to exceed 10,000 franchise stores. According to the franchise fee of each store is 109,900 yuan, this alone, the group's revenue will exceed 1 billion yuan.
On April 9, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that it will investigate and punish false and illegal advertisements for myopia prevention and control products in accordance with the law, continue to rectify advertisements that confuse true and false myopia, and use expressions such as "rehabilitation", "recovery", "reduction of power", "myopia cure", "myopia buster" and "degree repair" to mislead consumers.
Source: CCTV News WeChat public account (ID: cctvnewscenter) comprehensive "Financial Survey"