- I've noted an increase of TikTok ads
that are selling medical products.
Here's a list of ones that I would never buy.
Some of them?
Downright dangerous.
Check it out.
Bee-whoop!
"Did you know?" (chuckles)
I love the TikToks that tell me, "Did I know?"
Like I didn't go to medical school.
"Your cells are rapidly aging
"because of constant exposure to technology."
(claps) I got a revelation (drum rolling)
for you at home. (drum rolling continues)
Did you know you were aging? (drum rolling ends)
(chuckles) Do you use technology?
Do you not use technology?
You're still aging!
"This device creates a coherent, protective shield."
(whistling sounds)
Coherent. (static noise playing)
- [Narrator 1] I am so honored
to offer this scientifically-proven EMF mitigation device.
(record scratching)
- Man, people are really using, "Scientifically-proven,"
in a weak way these days.
- [Narrator 1] It creates a harmonic field
in your environment,
reaching 100 feet in all directions.
- "It creates a harmonic field reaching 100 feet
"in all directions."
- [Narrator 1] Penetrating through walls and floors.
- And it goes through walls and floors?
- [Narrator 1] It restructures water.
- It restructures water!
This is the most miraculous lamp.
I don't even know.
What is this?
- [Narrator 1] They improve sleep, focus, and energy.
- Why do I go to work
when I could just put this up on the display,
and just have the patients hang out in the room
with this thing?
I need to look this up.
Like where do they sell this?
$2,000!
"Improved sleep, more energy,
"better concentration, improved hydration,
"reduced stress and anxiety, fewer headaches,
"enhanced physical recovery.
(exhales) First of all,
let me woosah and relax.
It says it, "Creates a 360-degree coherent field
"of 100 feet in all directions,
"penetrating through walls and floors."
What's hilarious is,
I don't know what a coherent field of 100 feet means.
I think they just say words.
"Calms the parasympathetic nervous system."
And then it has a little asterisk
and it says these statements have not been evaluated
for medical accuracy.
Yeah, no (beep).
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
"Elimination of influences of 5G,
"geopathic zones."
I don't even know what a geopathic zone is.
"100% water structuring."
Decade plus of education,
don't know what any of these words mean.
And the device itself is just stones.
"Say goodbye double chin.
"100 times a day."
Okay. (whistle sound)
This is some kind of sucking device.
See, the problem with this product
is that it's trying to make you believe
that there is such thing as spot reduction.
There is no such thing.
If I lower my overall body fat content,
then I can see more muscle.
But if I just work out my biceps,
I'm not gonna just see fat reduction on the biceps.
It doesn't work that way
'cause your body works as a unit,
as opposed to individual pieces.
And that's what essentially they're saying
when they say, "Remove the double chin."
Here, we have another video of it.
"How to get a slimmer face quickly."
Again, ridiculous promises.
I mean look at that image.
They're literally taking someone
who's posing in a uncomfortable position
that's not normal for them.
And then they have them stand up straight.
That is not what happens
Look, like even if you pull up this thing on Walmart,
"Reduces the appearance of wrinkles."
Well, not at all.
Because wrinkles are formed from muscle usage.
In fact, when we inject botox
to prevent or get rid of wrinkles,
we're trying to relax the muscle.
To paralyze the muscle.
"Releases any tension in the face?"
How do you strengthen a muscle (bouncing noises)
and release tension? (bouncing noises ends)
"Firms and tightens the facial skin."
How?
Skin is taut because of skin molecules and skin proteins.
Not because of muscle.
So like, a lot of promises,
a lot of statements.
It's not a miracle slimming device that it claims.
- [Narrator 2] A change-your-life hack
and health hack.
- Again, big promises.
Let's see what we got.
- [Narrator 2] So this machine
produces seven different waters.
- Okay, so there's different pHs of waters.
I don't know why you'd want certain pHs of waters medically,
but let's see.
I'm gonna be non-judgmental.
- [Narrator 2] But what's also cool
is it boosts the molecular hydrogen
in these three drinking waters.
So drinking two glasses of this water
is equivalent to eating five pounds,
yes, five pounds of blueberries.
- What are we talking about?
When you consume water that has a pH of 9.5,
which means that it's a basic pH,
not acidic,
alkaline.
When it dumps itself through the esophagus
into the stomach,
do you know what the pH is
that's chilling in the stomach?
Two.
Very acidic environment.
It's called gastric acid for a reason.
And then when you drink this pH water of 9.5,
what do you think happens?
Do you think it stays alkaline?
No!
It becomes acidic and it mixes with this thing.
And then what happens is when you drink the water
and your body absorbs the water,
you think your blood concentrations of acid-base
is not incredibly tightly managed?
It's so managed
that your blood pH has to stay between 7.35 and 7.45.
Otherwise you die!
- [Narrator 2] This is my favorite.
It also makes Beauty Water.
- Beauty Water.
My god.
I guarantee you this device is like 10 grand.
(dramatic sound)
(static noise)
The bottom line is none of these things are proven
by real medical science.
Everything is over-promised,
over-hyped,
and it's not because I'm saying we know more
or doctors know more.
(record scratching)
It's that we know what we don't know.
And they refuse to admit that they don't know.
It is a big problem.
- [Narrator 3] Stop fingering your ears.
- First of all,
yeah, jamming your finger in your ear is not a good idea,
so this is starting off well.
- [Narrator 3] Use this ear camera instead.
- Oh no.
- [Narrator 3] Just connect it to your phone,
put it in your ear.
- Okay, so this device,
it looks cool,
it looks technological,
and it actually works.
Meaning that you could see the inside of your ear
with your camera
'cause it works through Bluetooth.
But this is a terrible product
and I'll tell you why.
Terrible in the sense of how people are using it.
People think that this product is great for cleaning ears,
then they go inside their ears with no training,
and start scratching up their ear canals,
busting their tympanic membranes.
Yes, their eardrums.
We're seeing this in our offices.
Plus, I don't really understand the obsession
of removing earwax from the inside of your ear.
If it's clogged,
you could could put eardrops in.
They sell them over the counter.
It'll melt ear wax and it'll come out.
And ear wax is good for your ear.
It actually traps dust, bacteria.
It even protects the canal
if there's a little moisture in there
from your skin getting irritated.
There's actually no good medical utility
that the average person should have this in their home.
I have it in my home.
I remember when Jen Selter came over
and she had an earplug that fell apart in her ear.
And I, as a medical professional,
was able to use this tool.
But I would not recommend anyone having this at home.
- [Narrator 3] Remove that ear wax for better hearing.
- And if your hearing is not good,
you should get evaluated by a doctor
because it's not always because of earwax.
There's true issues with hearing,
especially these days,
with everyone blasting their music with earbuds.
That literally could be early hearing loss,
and that's a real problem.
That's why I really recommend not listening to your music
over 50, 60% max volume.
- [Narrator 4] How I increased my height one inch.
- I can see how already,
this is drawing people in
because everyone wants to be taller.
Not everyone.
A lot of people want to be taller.
- [Narrator 4] This posture corrector is pure magic.
- It depends what your definition of pure magic is.
It's certainly not my definition as a doctor.
Because posture correctors largely are unnecessary
and potentially harmful.
Because the goal of having good posture
is about creating a good,
natural posture. (bell ringing)
And when you're putting on a device to create good posture,
you're essentially weakening the muscles
that create good posture,
and you become dependent on a device like this.
There's a lot of information out there
about, "Posture needs to be perfect."
You don't always need to sit up perfectly like this.
Like, it's okay to lean back if you're tired.
But it's about having good solid strength for your posture
in order for you to be able to sit comfortably
and not have to slouch over like this.
Or have a forward shoulder rounded posture.
So like, these things are far from magic,
and actually in many cases do more harm than good.
"Mastic has been grown in Greece
"and chewed for thousands of years
"as the original natural chewing gum."
As a doctor,
I was not trained to answer this question
so I can't fact check that.
But Mastic is, I think,
some kind of resin.
"Sculpt your jawline,
"results within the first week,
"100% natural chew,
"discrete exercise program,
"gluten/allergen free,
"not for the weak."
Not for the weak!
Can you imagine a less motivating product
than a product that's encouraging you to get strong
but is saying it's not for the weak?
How does that make sense from an advertising perspective?
I don't like a lot of these products
where you're chewing very heavily,
'cause you're using the masseter jaw muscle.
Yes.
But remember, a lot of the shape
that comes from your jawline,
doesn't come from the muscle.
It comes from the bone and structure that's already formed.
It has nothing to do with the muscle.
So yeah, while you can exercise the muscle,
you could also over-exercise this muscle.
Do you know what happens when you have a sore masseter?
Pain in the TMJ area. (bell ringing)
Grinding at night (bell ringing)
while you're sleeping.
So many issues can arise when it comes to dental care,
when you have an over-trained masseter.
I would not recommend this product.
Even just the claim, "Not for the weak,"
tells you all you need to know.
"Our included workout program
"will leave your jaw feeling exhausted after the first day,
"not for the weak."
This is another piece of misinformation.
When you start a new exercise routine,
the goal isn't to exhaust you,
to break your muscles down so much so
that you can't perform the next day.
The goal is to give you an appropriate stimulus
to get your muscles to perform better the next time.
Not destroy them.
That's a big mistake
that not only marketing companies clearly make,
but also personal trainers.
"Coffee enemas boost glutathione production by 700 x
"and detox the liver."
(exhales) I can't fact check the glutathione production
'cause I don't know exactly what they're saying
and that would require some serious fact checking.
But what I can tell you with very good certainty
is that coffee enemas do not detox the liver.
The liver itself is one of your detoxification organs
on its own.
So you don't need to detox your liver.
Oh my god,
so this is like an at-home enema kit
that you hang in your shower.
"Enema tip soft silicone,
"easy to insert,
"only goes in about two-inches."
If it's not necessary medically,
inserting this tube can already cause problems.
If you have a hemorrhoid,
it can cause bleeding,
you could cause an anal fissure.
And inserting any kind of fluid into your abdomen,
into your gut there,
can cause problems.
Infection, diarrhea.
Even like, legitimate rectal problems.
"Morning coffee enema."
The gut?
One way in, one way out.
Why are we changing the flow?
Why are we saying, "Let's put the coffee on the bottom
"instead of the top?"
I don't get it.
"Instant bloating and constipation relief."
Look, if you wanna use a regular enema
because you're experiencing constipation,
that's a different thing.
But like, using it daily to detox your body
is just not true.
The body does this naturally.
"Great for skin and hormones too."
Like, we're just throwing in
(phone ringing) a lot of false promises here.
Just to do this for health reasons is a full on lie,
and people are tricking you,
and it's sad to see
that TikTok doesn't actively take this stuff down.
- [Narrator 5] Ionic foot detox.
- Oh this is BS.
Here's what happens in these clips.
Person puts their feet in this thing,
it starts changing colors.
Here we go!
"Water color."
It starts telling you what's wrong with you.
This is my favorite.
This is so ridiculous. (chuckles)
"Bubbles equals gas and bloating."
Uh-huh.
Maybe inside your gut but not in here.
This has actually been unraveled
as one of the biggest, most embarrassing sources
of disinformation,
not even misinformation,
as you could see in this Inside Edition clip
where they expose these foot bath scams.
- [Narrator 6] We bought our own foot bath unit
and had it tested by Steven Fowler,
an electrical engineer.
- Through electrolysis,
they run a current through this water.
- Everything you see here is just rust.
- When you run the electricity through that water,
your body has electrolytes on your skin.
Salt, right?
Every time you sweat.
And as a result,
it starts changing colors.
And depending on how long you run it for,
it's also gonna have different colors.
- [Narrator 6] And check this out.
Those supposed toxins appear even without feet in the water.
- It is nothing but a scam.
- This serves as an example
as to how the entire industry works.
They see some kind of medical terminology
that they understand what that terminology is,
they don't have enough understanding
to know where their limitations lie,
and they start over-promising you stuff,
and charging you huge sums of money for it.
You're at risk 'cause you wanna stay healthy.
Maybe your doctor recommends something for you to do
that requires a lot of work, time, energy,
and you say, "Why would I do that
"when I could do this?
"I'm feeling slow, heavy,
"and for $115 it can improve it.
"Let me do it."
It's BS and this proves it right here.
How about some good and dangerous medical products
from Shark Tank?
Click here to check that out.
And as always,
stay happy and healthy.
I wear a suit.
(indistinct) Varshavski.
Check it out.
(upbeat music fades)