ASA backs complaint against clinic's claims

Complaints against a Harley Street eye clinic's claims regarding conductive keratoplasty (CK) treatment for presbyopia have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA also ruled against the company Ð Horizon Eye Centres Ð in a separate complaint regarding statements that CK 'was safe as claimed'. Horizon publicised its procedure in magazine advertising Ð 'if you are still young at heart but find you need glasses, we have a five minute solution to get you reading Ð naturally.' Pictured in the advertisement was surgeon Dr David Allamby, 'the first eye surgeon in the UK to correct presbyopia' with the procedure. 'CK is a safe, new, five minute treatment that involves no incisions or lasers. A better way to improve farsightedness, this tried and tested technique uses radio waves to gently, and safely strengthen your eye allowing you to read once again without glasses'. The advertisement went on to claim Horizon had 'successfully treated many delighted patients' in the UK. The complainant, an optometrist in Essex, told the ASA that the procedure was still in its infancy. Horizon said that CK was well established, that it had been approved through clinical trials and 25,000 procedures had been performed worldwide since the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approved CK for the reduction of hyperopia in 2002. The advertisers stated that CK was available in over 200 clinics worldwide, including several in the UK, and submitted efficacy data on CK based on its own research. Horizon also submitted published FDA clinical trial data on the use of CK to correct hyperopia and published research data on the use of CK for low to moderate hyperopia. In a statement this week, the ASA stated that the advertisers said they did not claim to cure presbyopia, because its cause was not known, but claimed merely to correct it, and Horizon was willing to address the wording in the advertisement to clarify that CK helped to reduce the effects on people of age-related changes within the eye. 'The Authority noted the advertisement did not use the word 'cure',' said the ASA, 'but considered that it implied that the advertisers' procedure could permanently correct presbyopia'. The Authority welcomed the advertisers' willingness to address the wording in the advertisement. As to the optometrist's complaint regarding safety, Horizon submitted data based on its own research and extracts from medical publications as supporting evidence for the safety of CK, and asserted that 'CK was safer than laser vision correction for comparable treatments'. However, the ASA considered that the procedure was a relatively new technique and the advertisers had not shown that CK had had no adverse effects over a long period. 'The Authority was not satisfied that the advertisers' procedure was wholly and consistently safe over time and asked the advertisers to remove the claim that the procedure was safe,' the ASA ruled. david.challinorrbi.co.uk