Laser eye clinic: Claims made by a laser eye clinic in Belfast that it had invested in the latest technology and patients who presented to it would be seen by its full-time eye surgeons in Ireland did not stand up when investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI).
The claims were made in leaflets advertising the Advanced Laser Eye Clinic which were circulated with a newspaper in the Republic.
On seeing the advert which also claimed the clinic had "the enviable record of correcting the most eyes with the lowest level of complications", two other clinics providing laser eye surgery in Ireland - the Wellington Eye Clinic in Dublin and the All Clear Clinic in Belfast - complained to the ASAI.
The All Clear Clinic said that as it had been established in 1992 and Advanced Laser Eye Clinic in 2000, it was impossible for it to have corrected the most number of eyes. Both All Clear and Wellington said there were no published figures on the number of complications arising from treatment for any clinic and, therefore, it was impossible to make comparative complication claims.
Furthermore, All Clear said surgery at Advanced Laser Eye Clinic was carried out by surgeons flown in from the UK and elsewhere for the day, thus making its claim that it used full- time surgeons in Ireland misleading.
When the ASAI put these allegations to Advanced Laser Eye Clinic, it said it had been treating patients in Scotland since 1992 and now had three clinics, two in Scotland and one in Belfast. It said its claim that it had the lowest level of complications was based on its own substantial records and, from its interpretation of complications, it felt it had a very high level of satisfaction that placed it at the very top level.
In addition, it said it had a full- time surgeon who operated across all three clinics and also used the services of other surgeons who worked in private hospitals in the UK.
The ASAI, having considered the matter in full, found the advertiser had not offered substantiation for the claim to have corrected the most eyes. It said it was satisfied from its investigations that "at least one named clinic had a later model of a laser, with more extensive software, than that used by the Advanced Laser Eye Clinic and in the circumstances their claim to have invested in the latest technology does not appear to have been substantiated".
Furthermore, it found the advertisement could reasonably be understood to imply that prospective patients would be under the care of eye surgeons based full time in Ireland but actually it had one full-time eye surgeon who split his or her time between three clinics, only one of which was in Ireland.
The ASAI said the code of advertising standards requires that an advertisement should not mislead by inaccuracy, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.