Decision of the Advertising Board on Posts that Attribute a Commercial Appearance to a Medical Activity and Increase Demand

File No: 2023/6027

Complainant Prof. Dr xxxxxxx

Complained Advertisement: Promotions published on Instagram under the account name “profdr.xxxxxxx” and on Facebook under the account name “drxxxxxxx”

Advertisement Publication/Access Date: 14.03.2023, 11.09.2023

Published on: Internet

Findings: The promotions subject to review;

In the views of the social media named Instagram dated 14.03.2023 and 11.9.2023, he said, “Today we could not get enough of saving glasses with lasers. The day started with the examinations of my laser patients in the morning, and continued with the sweet thanks of my patients who were laser at noon and started to see immediately. Today, we started lasers early in the day and we still haven’t left the laser at noon. But those who follow me know our joy here and the beauty of the energy inside. – We saved two siblings from Kars from glasses one after the other today. Especially when we prescribe glasses to children for the first time, one of the first questions is, “Is there a familial transmission of these glasses? Yes, there is. Generally, either the mother or father or both of them have a history of wearing glasses in these children. However, it is not necessarily necessary to have a person who wears glasses in the family, sometimes the child may start wearing glasses for the first time. But if there is a family history of spectacle use, there is usually a progression rate and progression number close to that person’s number. As in these two siblings… -Do you think that the excimer laser may have the effect of emitting positive energy as well as the effect of removing glasses? – We have 5-6 types of lasers that we use in the eye field. Today, we used two of them in succession in different patients. Our first patient is a patient to whom we applied argon laser due to bleeding in diabetes. It is applied in different durations according to the patient’s being affected by diabetes. However, the total duration of the two eyes varies between 5-20 minutes. It is a painless laser applied in outpatient clinic conditions. It is applied in 3-5 sessions depending on the severity of sugar damage. Our 2nd patient has haze behind the lens after cataract and our laser is applied to clean the haze. Two eyes is a painless procedure lasting 5-6 minutes. And it is applied in outpatient clinic conditions. Apart from these, we also have a wide variety of lasers such as our laser we apply to throw glasses, our laser we use during cataract surgery, our laser we apply in dry eye, our laser we apply in eye pressure, our laser we apply in yellow spot disease, our lasers we use in non-surgical aesthetics.

In the view of the social media platform Facebook dated 14.03.2023, it was written as follows: “Do you think excimer laser may have the effect of spreading positive energy as well as the effect of removing glasses? – Today we had a very sweet young girl in our examination room. She has very high glasses numbers and asked if she could get rid of them. Her eye numbers are in two pictures…- Again today we saved two brothers from glasses together. Although the two brothers were not very similar in type, they were very similar in character. Both of them were very harmonious and they were very comfortable in the surgery and so our surgery was very enjoyable… (…)” .

Evaluation/Decision: As a result of the examinations made, the promotions subject to the review; In the views of the social media channel named Instagram dated 14.3.2023 and 11.9.2023,

“Today, we could not get enough of saving glasses with lasers. The day started with the examinations of my laser patients in the morning, and continued with the sweet thanks of my patients who started to see immediately after laser at noon. Today, we started lasers early in the day and we still couldn’t get out of the laser at noon. But those who follow me know our joy here and the beauty of the energy inside. – We saved two siblings from Kars from glasses one after the other today. One of the first questions, especially when we first prescribe glasses to children, is whether there is a familial transmission of these glasses. Yes, there is. Generally, either the mother or father or both of them have a history of wearing glasses in these children. However, it is not necessarily necessary to have a person who wears glasses in the family, sometimes the child may start wearing glasses for the first time. But if there is a family history of spectacle use, there is usually a progression rate and progression number close to that person’s number. As in these two siblings… -Do you think that the excimer laser may have the effect of emitting positive energy as well as the effect of removing glasses? – We have 5-6 types of lasers that we use in the eye field. Today, we used two of them one after the other in different patients. Our first patient is a patient to whom we applied argon laser due to bleeding in diabetes. It is applied in different durations depending on the patient’s diabetes. However, the total duration of the two eyes varies between 5-20 minutes. It is a painless laser applied in outpatient clinic conditions. It is applied in 3-5 sessions depending on the severity of sugar damage. Our 2nd patient has haze behind the lens after cataract and our laser is applied to clean the haze. Two eyes is a painless procedure lasting 5-6 minutes. And it is applied in outpatient clinic conditions. Apart from these, we also have a wide variety of lasers such as the laser we use to remove glasses, the laser we use during cataract surgery, the laser we use in dry eye, the laser we use in eye pressure, the laser we use in yellow spot disease, the lasers we use in non-surgical aesthetics. “,

In the view of the social media platform Facebook dated 14.03.2023, it was written as follows: “Do you think excimer laser may have the effect of spreading positive energy as well as the effect of removing glasses?–Today we had a very sweet young girl in our examination room. She has very high glasses numbers and asked if she could get rid of them. Her eye numbers are in two pictures…- Again today we saved two brothers from glasses together. Although the two brothers were not very similar in type, they were very similar in character. Both of them were very harmonious and they were very comfortable in the surgery and so our surgery was very enjoyable… (…)” , and it has been evaluated that these and similar promotions are of a nature that imposes a commercial appearance on the activities of the person carrying out the profession of medicine, creates a demand for medical procedures and therefore exceeds the limit of information and promotional activities permitted by the relevant legislation,

Therefore, the promotions under review;

• Article 24 of the Law No. 1219 on the Practice of Medicine and Medical Practices,

• Articles 8, 9 and 39 of the Medical Deontology Regulation,

• Article 5/1-c of the Regulation on Job and Job Descriptions of Health Professionals and Other Professionals Working in Health Services,

• Article 29 of the Regulation on Private Health Institutions for Outpatient Diagnosis and Treatment,

• Articles 5/1-a, 5/1-ç, 5/1-d, 5/1-e, 5/1-f, 5/1-g, 5/1-i, 5/2, 7/1-a, 7/1-b, 7/1-c, 7/1-e, 7/1-f, 7/1-g of the Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services,

• Articles 7/1, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4, 7/5-b, 26 and 32 of the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices,

• Article 61 of the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers is contrary to its provisions,

Accordingly, it has been decided to impose an administrative fine of 347.128-TL (Three hundred and forty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-eight Turkish Liras) and to suspend the aforementioned advertisements on the advertiser Prof. Dr. xxxxxxx in accordance with Articles 63 and 77/12 of the Law No. 6502.

This content has been automatically translated into English from the Turkish original.