A fake video is circulating on Facebook (FB) promoting an unregistered eye drop to treat cataracts and restore a person’s vision back to normal. The clip manipulated a video of cardiologist Willie Ong who is not endorsing the product.
Eye drops are not a treatment for cataracts and the product is not registered with the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FB clip spliced a September 2023 video of popular cardiologist and social media personality Willie Ong and edited his voice to claim:
“Paano mawawala ang katarata? Mawawala ito kapag pinatakan mo ng Clear Sight Eye Drops. Itong eye drops na ito ay nakakatanggal ng katarata at tumutulong na maibalik sa dating linaw ang ating paningin nang hindi na kailangan ng operasyon. So, ipapatak mo lang two times, three times a day para tuluyan nang mawala ang iyong katarata.”
(How do you get rid of cataracts? They will disappear once you apply Clear Sight Eye Drops. These eye drops will remove cataracts and help bring back clear eyesight without surgery. Apply two eye drops three times a day so you can get rid of cataracts).
In the original video, Ong was talking about buying over-the-counter artificial tears for people with dry eyes, and said that they should use it two to three times a day.
Cataract surgery is so far the only proven treatment for the condition, and this depends on the recommendation of an ophthalmologist.
Clear Sight Eye Drops is not FDA-approved, nor is it listed in the FDA’s roster of products under new application. Despite this, it is sold on ecommerce applications such as Shopee and Lazada.
To date, the fake product’s video ad has over 1,200 reactions, 250 comments and 202,000 views.
