The reporter of "Financial Investigation" found that there is a chain organization specializing in vision improvement business, claiming that they can let children not take injections, medicines, or surgeries, and only use the "miracle medicine" and "magic instrument" they developed to massage, smear, and atomize the eyes, which can help children improve their eyesight and easily remove their glasses.
Myopia 7 days to remove lenses, quickly improve vision
Thousands of stores claim 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. In the publicity, the company claimed that it could cure myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism, amblyopia, presbyopia and other eye diseases, and quickly remove the glasses. In addition to people with organic lesions and ocular inflammation, other people with vision problems can also be treated.
The staff of the store told the reporter that the vast majority of consumers who came to their store to improve their vision were children, and their entire institution had helped more than 30,000 myopia patients to successfully remove their glasses. The institution claimed that if it did not take injections, medicines, or surgeries, 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 of the ME Optometry Enhancement Center also highlighted the background of their institution, claiming to be a medical institution, but when the reporter asked for the relevant medical qualifications of these institutions, the staff could not provide it.
The reporter saw on the business license hanging in the store that the business scope of this vision improvement and lens removal center clearly stated: health care services (non-medical), and there was no content of vision improvement and lens removal.
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.
Although it is just an ordinary store, these institutions are vigorously carrying out medical activities such as eyesight improvement and lens removal. Because business is booming, some people even join several stores.
So, how do these institutions, called ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Removal Center, improve the vision of consumers?
One pass, two adjustments, three supplements
The 100-year-old secret health cream is actually a skin care product
The beauty instrument acts as a medical device to fool parents without discussion
The staff of ME Optometry and Vision Improvement Lens Removal Center told reporters that they have three "magic weapons" for consumers to improve their eyesight and successfully remove their lenses: one pass, two adjustments and three supplements.
The first is "tong", that is, dredging the meridians. The staff mysteriously introduced to the reporter that their unique secret to improving eyesight is a small bottle of green things used when massaging the eyes, and the service staff in the store called it "a century-old claireye health care ointment", which contains 24 flavors of traditional Chinese medicine.
The name of the product on the outer packaging of this clairvoyant health balm is Bright Eye Radiance Eye Balm, which is effective in replenishing moisture to the skin around the eyes and improving the dryness and dehydration of the skin around the eyes. The production license number is Cantonese 20170595. 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 staff introduced the second "magic weapon" to improve eyesight - "adjustment", that is, through the "latest dynamic eye care technology that simulates outdoor natural light" to condition the eyes. Conditioning must be carried out with this ME era vision booster.
For this mysterious instrument, the staff's propaganda rhetoric is even richer. "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. The commissioned test items indicated on the test report are only whether the product has blue light hazards, but whether it can have the effect of improving vision, and the test report does not mention it.
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 that during the experience of about nine minutes, he must not blink, as long as he blinked, there would be no therapeutic effect. The reporter endured the discomfort, insisted on not blinking, and completed the experience, tears flowed, and his eyes were sore and painful, but the staff said that this would be regarded as a therapeutic effect.
The last "magic weapon" is the "tonic", which is made with a mysterious liquid made from 24 kinds of precious herbs. The mysterious liquid is added to the blindfold to atomize the child's eyes.
On the outer packaging of this eye wash, there is no production batch number of any medical device and drug, and it is clearly stated that 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 ME Era Moisturizing Eye Patch, ME Bright Eye Brightening Comfort Lotion, ME Era Moisturizing and Tender Skin Eye Patch, etc., claiming to supplement nutrition for the eyes and assist in improving vision.
However, the reporter inquired about the outer packaging of the products and found that the approved production numbers of these products are also the approved numbers of cosmetics, not the batch numbers of regular health care products or drugs.
Ordinary cosmetics, non-medical devices, non-medical institutions, but the prices offered by ME optometry and vision improvement centers are surprising.
Not only that, but the staff also emphasized that in order to maintain the effect of eyesight improvement, you can't stop doing maintenance here.
Boasting of curative effects, devised rhetoric, and making a lot of money
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 is due to the fact that the company spent six and a half years, invested 1.5 billion yuan in research and development funds, and obtained dozens of patent certificates. However, the reporter found that most of the patents claimed by every new group company are patents for lighting fixtures, laser headlights, device structures, etc., and none of these have substantial content to improve vision.
The reporter found in the industrial and commercial registration information of his company that the business scope of every new group company clearly stated: life beauty services, and there is also no medical service content for vision improvement and lens removal. The investment manager said that the store's inspection trainer can be understood as the beautician of the beauty shop, which does not require a doctor's qualification, and at the same time, the non-medical device equipment used is beautified as a "patented" instrument.
The investment manager admitted 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 sure enough, these consumers said that their eyesight rebounded and had no effect.
Wang Kai, chief physician of the Optometry Center of Peking University People's Hospital, said that none of the current methods in the world is truly effective in reversing true myopia.
Li Li, director of the Department of Ophthalmology of 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 long eye axis shorter when the eye axis grows, so myopia is irreversible. In addition, although local massage around the eyes can relieve eye fatigue and make people "bright", it is not a scientific method for treating myopia. If parents enter such a misunderstanding, using massage instead of wearing glasses will easily make children aggravate myopia, and may also cause lesions around the retina.
Since the start of the project in 2022, it has only taken more than a year to develop 1,653 franchise stores in every new group company, 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 Finance