THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 1 in 5 patients report encountering ophthalmic treatments they perceive as bogus, according to a research letter published online Sept. 24 in JAMA Ophthalmology.
Lee Jones, Ph.D., from University College London, and colleagues conducted a survey of 955 adults to examine exposure to ophthalmic treatments perceived to be bogus, with bogus defined as lacking sufficient scientific evidence of safety, efficacy, or appropriate regulatory approval to warrant routine consideration.
The researchers found that 19.1 percent of respondents reported exposure to a treatment they perceived to be bogus. Online advertising was the most common source of exposure (57.7 percent), with 14.0 percent of those exposed to the treatment not undergoing it. Almost 80 percent of the respondents who said they turned down the treatment said they did not trust the claims being made. Five percent of participants reported treatment uptake, corresponding to an uptake proportion of 26.4 percent among those exposed, with 83.5 percent reporting a single treatment. Interventions fell into eight categories, including most frequently nutritional supplements and vitamins (58 participants; high-dose vitamin A and bilberry extract), complementary and alternative medicine (32 participants; acupuncture, homeopathy, and chelation therapy), and regenerative treatments (25 participants; stem cell-related injections or infusions). Device-based approaches (18 participants) were less frequently reported.
"Additional studies are needed to better understand how patients interpret treatment claims and how clinicians might support informed decision-making in an increasingly complex and expansive health information environment," the authors write.
