[22] Author Susan Wyndham detailed a story about Teo and the pianist Aaron McMillan, a patient, in her biography, Life in his Hands.

[23] Sally White, a patient of Teo's, wrote of her experiences in Three Quotes From A Plumber: How a Second Opinion Changed the Life of a Woman with a Brain Tumour.

[24][25] Teo was featured in several TV programs including the ABC's Q&A, Good Medicine, 60 Minutes,[16][26] Last Chance Surgery, Australian Story,[27][28][29][30][31] Enough Rope[32] and Anh's Brush with Fame.

[35][36][37] In 2011, Teo was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to medicine as a neurosurgeon through the introduction of minimally invasive techniques, as a researcher, educator and mentor, and through the establishment of the Cure for Life Foundation.

Professor Woo also questioned the absence of peer-reviewed evidence that Teo’s operative approach was beneficial to patients with incurable brain cancer.

[43][44][45] In 2021, the NSW Medical Council conducted a special hearing into Teo's behaviours during surgical procedures;[46] and, following investigation, he was prevented from performing any "recurrent malignant intracranial tumour and brain stem tumour surgical procedures" unless he obtained written approval from an independent neurosurgeon, as approved by the NSW Medical Council.

[50] On 23 October 2022, the Sydney Morning Herald described how Teo charged families extraordinary amounts of money and gave hope for a cure for ultimately futile operations that have catastrophically injured his patients.

In letters of support to the Health Care Complaints Commission, Professor Yeo Tseng Tsai, head of neurosurgery at National University Hospital Singapore lauded Teo as 'a world class neurosurgeon of the first order'.

Professor Paul Gardiner, neurosurgery director at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center described Teo as 'among a small set of gifted and dedicated surgeons who can offer the most complicated patients a chance where other (neurosurgeons) cannot'.

Director of Brain Tumor and Skull Base Surgery at Providence Brain and Spine Institute Dr Gore writes in 'unequivocal support of Dr Charlie Teo ... his heightened skills in handling critical neural and vascular structures and differentiating tumor from non-neoplastic tissue put him in a position to perform surgery that many other neurosurgeons are not capable of'.