By Chris Onuoha

The Chairman of the National Eye Health Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health, Prof Afekhide Omoti has expressed worry over the growing number of social media advertisements of drugs and other chemicals which the sponsors claim can cure all eye diseases including glaucoma.

Speaking to journalists in Benin City, Prof Afekhide Omoti who is also a consultant Ophthalmologist with the University of Benin Teaching Hospital(UBTH), Benin City, stated that these social media posts are fraudulent.

“It is not true that there is any single drug capable of curing all eye diseases and restoring sight in all types of blindness and visual impairment. Many eye diseases are incurable and can only be controlled.

“For diseases like glaucoma which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, early detection is required to prevent blindness if the condition is properly managed by a qualified eye doctor. Any visual loss that occurs from glaucoma cannot be recovered by any currently known treatment. Currently available treatment modalities only serve to arrest further progression and not to cure the disease,” he said.

The medical expert said that drugs which are advertised on social media platforms and are now spilling into print and electronic media will not only cause glaucoma patients not to take their drugs as prescribed by the patients eye doctor, but noted that the result is that the disease will gradually progress to blindness.

According to him, many of these drugs have not even passed through the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, and have not been certified by NAFDAC.

“The safety of such drugs cannot be guaranteed even if the advertisements claim that they are natural products.The persons behind these social media posts prey on the ignorance of the public and the desperation of patients suffering from incurable eye diseases,”Omoti noted.

Prof Omoti further revealed that their usual modus operandi is to make false cure claims, use some medical terminology and proceed to provide testimonies of people they claim to have used their products and their eye diseases were miraculously cured.

“These are all fake and designed to defraud the patient of their hard earned funds. These people are therefore contributing to the burden of blindness and visual impairment as well as poverty in the land.”he said.

He therefore, advised Nigerians not to patronise such products but rather see an eye doctor for the correct diagnosis and treatment of their eye conditions.