Do Cataract Eye Drops Work?
May 25, 2009
No ophthalmologist would ever recommend eye drops that “dissolve” or prevent cataract, for the simple reason that they don’t work. They have never been studied or published in any respectable institution or scientific journal. So when you see this stuff advertised, please do your wallet a favor and ignore it. Trust me- there is no grand conspiracy out there trying to deny you natural cures for cataract or other illnesses so that we doctors can make more money doing surgery and prescribing medicines.
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4 Responses to “Do Cataract Eye Drops Work?”
what you just described is called an anecdote. anecdotes prove nothing. i hear anecdotes all the time- “i used this new pill, and my arthritis went away” “ever since i started this medicine, i started having trouble with my vision” etc.
doctors and scientists dont give credence to anecdotes, as they are almost always wrong. very often its the placebo effect- the person taking the medicine is convinced of its power to do something, so it actually does it. or, very often there is coincidence. everyone has always heard about someone else who experienced a certain result from a certain thing, but thats not evidence.
in order to know whats really going on, one must do randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, which cost millions of dollars. if all we needed were anecdotes, the big pharm companies and the n.i.h. could save billions and not bother doing all these complicated multi-year expensive drug studies to prove they work. all they have to state is that it worked for you or many others like you.
your “test” is nothing of the kind. you did not do a legitimate test. when i see a patient with early cataract, i typically do not tell the patient, and i often neglect to write it down, as it’s clinically irrelevant. also, some early cataract has been shown to be reversible, or it can wax and wane for a while. the fact that it disappeared when you took the drop means absolutely nothing and is far from senseless. its science.
here’s an example of the power of real testing- for decades, doctors treated kids with ear infections with antibiotics. but guess what? a major study came out 2 years ago which proved that those antibiotics accomplish nothing! it was stunning. there was no difference between 2 groups of kids, where 1 group got antibiotics, and the other did not. yet we all know of kids who get better with antibiotics! how is that possible? simple- they would have gotten better anyway.
Sorry guys, but in 2004, or so, my dr. said both eyes had small cataracts.
I used some eye drops, and one year later, my exam showed they were gone.
They just now, started to come back (I did not use them as a preventive)
I will again be using some eye drops.
The only other side of the coin is….was my Dr. mistaken? Did he not really see cataracts? He and his partner are well know in the Valley, so I believe he saw them. We all know, that products don’t work for every one, but it quite senseless to state: they do not work. My tests proved otherwise.
santen makes legit products too. i dont think their cataract drops are sold in the u.s.
But… Where will Santen get their revenue from then?
