Holistic influencer Samantha Lotus slammed for claiming she can fix eyesight without glasses in $11 masterclass
Her class is cheaper than glasses!
Canadian influencer Samantha Lotus hosted an $11 masterclass on how to holistically heal vision without the use of glasses — and it has other influencers and doctors seeing red.
“You may have been told that you need glasses, but that’s actually a lie,” she said in a now-deleted video. “There are mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual reasons why you may not be seeing, and I’m here to tell you that that can be healed.”
The self-proclaimed “holistic master coach,” claimed she had personally “reversed my need for glasses” and was on a mission to help others do it, too.
However, the influencer, who boosts nearly 28,000 followers on Instagram, warned her followers that if they were “closed-minded and want to stay a victim, this is NOT FOR YOU.”
‘So monumentally dumb’
TikToker Mallory, who claims to clear up wellness disinformation and attended Lotus’ class, was quick to call the class “Saturday morning cartoons.”
“I guess it was only a matter of time before the anti-glasses grift becomes a thing? This community is so hellbent on having a contrarian opinion on every incredible scientific invention,” Mallory, who asked to go only by her first name, tweeted with a screen recording of Lotus’ pitch.
In the two-and-a-half-hour course, Lotus did disclose early on that she was “not a pharma doctor or medical adviser,” and was only providing “holistic education and empowerment purposes,” as seen on screenshots Mallory provided from the presentation.
According to Mallory, Lotus did discuss medical reasons behind bad eyesight, but simply wrote it off as “not root causes, only diagnosis,” and went on to say that bad eyesight could be from having an “unbalanced spirituality” or “blockages” and more.
“She did say, in fact, say that you could change your eye color through cellular cleansing and proper detoxication,” Mallory claimed in a six-minute TikTok showing photographs of Lotus’ presentation.
“She just talked about glasses and how they’re a barrier between you and the rest of the world.”
Lotus also reportedly suggested her students use essential oils around their eyes. Lotus is a sponsor for DoTERRA essential oils, which is featured in her Linktree on Instagram, and provides discounts for the company’s products through her sponsor ID.
Mallory claimed Lotus’ “entire masterclass exists for this reason,” as the holistic wellness influencer plugged DoTERRA products and talked about her love for the company.
DoTERRA replied to Mallory’s request for comment on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing: “While our products can be used to promote a healthier lifestyle and achieve certain wellness benefits, they cannot be used or marketed as capable of preventing, treating, or curing any disease or symptoms associated with a disease.”
“This woman made $5,000 this morning telling a Zoom room of people that if only they would work harder on their spirituality and their mental state and their emotional state that they too could heal their vision and ditch their glasses,” Mallory said in the damning TikTok.
Lotus did not take kindly to Mallory’s scathing review and later took to her Instagram Stories to clear up some rumors.
“I’m going to make a clarification — although it’s wildly mind-blowing that I even need to do this. For those of you that have interpreted my message that you don’t need glasses, that humans don’t have a biological need for glasses, it is not to say that if you currently have a visual impairment to take off your glasses and go drive a vehicle.
“In fact, in my masterclass, I made that blatantly clear,” an irritated Lotus said. “We’re not ridiculous here. We’re talking about healing or improving, significantly, vision, which is what our bodies are made to do.”
She went on to say that it’s “quite simple” to heal human bodies and eyes by giving it the “things it needs to see.”
“OK, so we’re clear about that? OK,” she concluded.
Mallory claims she was harassed by Lotus across several platforms — including TikTok and LinkedIn — and said the Canadian has threatened legal action against her for sharing parts of the presentation.
Mallory told The Post on Wednesday that she is “consulting with legal counsel” of her own.
“Thank you for reaching out but at this time I’m not conducting any interviews on the matter,” Lotus told The Post Wednesday night.
“I have removed all public-facing materials used during my training, and my team and I are reviewing the presentation, sources and studies cited to ensure the materials presented are compliant and safe.”
Lotus also went after Dr. Siyab Panhwar — who claims to be a board-certified cardiologist on his Instagram — after he told his 25,000 followers to not “listen to gaslighting quacks on the internet for medical advice.”
“Your eyesight isn’t poor because you are spiritually unwell or your chakras are out of alignment. You may have an actual medical condition,” he said. “This is so monumentally dumb.”
In another deleted post, shared on Twitter by Mallory, Lotus took a swing at Panhwar, writing: “@drsiyabmd takes the liberty from his busy medical schedule to post defamatory and false information about other practitioners online. This week I was his target. Although he did not attend my MasterClass, he chose to take a word of teenage TikTok girl Mallorysthoughts and use his time to attack me and my work.”
The influencer has since uploaded a new post, titled “Cancel Culture and Mob Mentality,” to her Instagram, writing: “Well that escalated quickly.”
She claimed Mallory was using “deception” and Panhwar “tag-teamed” to “paint me as a danger to humanity, a scam artist, a grifter, and whatever else,” she wrote in the lengthy post.
“I know this is the time we live in, and the cancel culture mob mentality aiming to bring accountability,” she wrote. “The issue is their delusion. I imagine they probably think they’re doing a good thing.”
The Post has also reached out to Panhwar for comment.
Clearing things up
The American Academy of Ophthalmology also called bunk on Lotus’ controversial stance.
“The idea that wearing eyeglasses weakens the eye or makes your eyes overly dependent on refractive lenses is an old myth — there is no scientific data showing that eyes deteriorate over time due to glasses or contact lenses,” spokesman Christopher Starr, who is also an associate professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medicine, told The Post.
“Presbyopia is a natural age-related condition, usually starting in one’s 40s, and can’t be cured with essential oils or eye yoga,” he continued, adding that the condition can only be treated with corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses, surgery or an FDA-approved eyedrop.
