SELF-trained, self-proclaimed 'eye doctor' Leo Angart appears unfazed when accused of ripping people off. For $1,900 and a weekend of your time, Mr Angart promises to cure eyesight problems using a combination of New Age theories and exercises that participants can use long after they have completed the workshop.
'I don't think I'm ripping people off. Let's turn it around. [Eye doctors] recommend laser surgery [for myopia] at $15,000 an eye. Even if the equipment is expensive, you can do it every half-hour. I think of that as ripping people off. Surgery is dangerous; there is no danger in what I'm doing,' says the 53-year-old Dutchman, a 16-year resident of Hong Kong.
The problem, says Dr Ho Chi-kin, president of the Ophthalmological Association, is that without a large, controlled study, there is no conclusive evidence Mr Angart's methods are effective.
'Our worry is that he is telling something without evidence - even though the exercises are probably not harmful - and having people spend a lot of money taking the courses although they may gain nothing in the end.' Mr Angart's evidence consists of his own anecdotes, glowing testimonials from previous participants, and a few studies. He has not done any follow-ups or his own studies; he is not even medically or optically trained. His promotional literature states he is a lecturer, trainer and business consultant.
'If he is not an ophthalmologist or an optometrist, I wonder if he has the knowledge to be talking about it. If he's educating the public and making money off it without a solid background, then he is just being unethical,' says Andrew Lam Kwok-cheung, an assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Department of Optometry and Radiography.
In the workshop, Mr Angart passes out a book filled with diagrams and definitions culled from 44 books, including one written by Dr William Bates, an American whose vision improvement techniques were considered controversial by the medical community even in the early 1900s - and who had his licence to practise medicine revoked.
Dr Bates' relaxation techniques included 'sunning', which meant simply closing your eyes and letting the sun shine on them, and 'palming', rubbing your hands together to generate heat, then placing them over your eyes.