You may have found this site because something about your vision has changed, or because your eye doctor has told you that you have a cataract. Before you act on anything you read here, it is fair to ask who stands behind it.

The answer is short. Every page we publish about a procedure, a condition, a risk, or a result is read by the doctor named on it before it goes live, and it carries that doctor's name and the date of their sign off. Nothing we publish goes up automatically. This page explains who reads what, where our facts come from, and what the reviewed line means when you see it.

At a glance

  • Who reads a medical page: The doctor named on it, before it publishes. 
  • What else is checked: Every page, medical or not, is checked by the practice for what it says about our offices, our doctors, our hours, and what we offer where.
  • Where our facts come from: Published clinical guidelines, FDA patient pages and labeling, the National Eye Institute, Medicare.gov, the makers of the lasers and lenses our surgeons use, and the practice itself.
  • How you can tell: The Medically reviewed by line near the top of the page, with the doctor's name and the date of their sign off.
  • Pages without the line: Pages with no medical content, like this one, and pages and posts written before this standard was adopted. A page that is updated goes through the same review before it is republished.
  • Prices: Cost depends on the procedure or lens chosen and, where it applies, on your coverage, and it is discussed with you in person at your consultation.

Who reads each page

One doctor reads each medical page we publish before that doctor's name goes on it. For a page about surgery, that is one of our surgeons who performs that kind of surgery, and the LASIK pages and the cataract pages are read by different surgeons. The name on the reviewed line is the name of the doctor who read the page, and no doctor's name goes on that line for a page they have not read. Our doctors are listed on Our Doctors, and each doctor's own page says where they see patients.

Before a medical page is published, it is written from the sources listed below and from the practice's own confirmed facts, then read by the doctor named on it. The doctor's corrections are made before the page goes live, and the page carries that doctor's name and the date of the sign off. Every page, medical or not, is checked by the practice for what it says about our offices, our doctors, our hours, and what we offer where. 

Where our facts come from

Clinical statements on the pages we publish under this standard are sourced to a short list of authorities, and each of those pages lists the ones it used. The list is built for a surgical practice: the professional bodies that publish the clinical guidelines, the agency that regulates the devices, and the makers of the devices we use.

  • The American Academy of Ophthalmology, for its patient education pages and its Preferred Practice Pattern guidelines on cataract surgery and on refractive surgery.
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for its LASIK patient pages and the labeling for each laser and lens we use.
  • The National Eye Institute, for how the eye works and what cataracts and refractive errors are.
  • Medicare.gov, for what Medicare covers, stated in general terms.
  • The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, for explanations of procedures.
  • The companies that make the lasers and lenses our surgeons use, through their patient information and their FDA labeling.
  • Peer reviewed journals, cited by title, for a specific point the sources above do not cover.
  • The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners, and the NPI Registry, for the license and credential lines on our doctors' pages.
  • The practice itself, for anything about our offices, our doctors, our hours, our technology, and our programs.

We do not cite other practices' websites, review sites, or general consumer health publishers for a clinical claim. When a page gives a number, such as how long a recovery usually takes or how often a side effect occurs, the number comes from one of the sources above, and the page says which.

What the reviewed line means

The line Medically reviewed by, followed by a doctor's name, means that doctor has read the page and signed off on it. The date beside the name is the date of the sign off. The name links to the doctor's own page, and the words Medically reviewed by link back to this one.

If one of our doctors writes a page, that page says Written by instead, and it is approved the same way.

Pages and posts written before this standard was adopted do not carry a reviewed line. A page about a procedure, a condition, a risk, or a result that is updated goes through the same review, and the line is added when the doctor has signed off on it.

A reviewed page reflects its sources and its doctor's sign off as of the date on it, and it is written for a general reader. It cannot tell you whether a procedure is right for your eyes. That takes an exam. It can start with your own eye doctor, who may work with us through co-management, and you can also schedule an exam at either of our offices.

Rules we write by

Four rules apply to every page we publish, whoever reads it.

  • We do not promise a result. A page about a procedure may say that it can reduce your dependence on glasses and contacts; no page we publish promises more than that, and a page that describes a result says that results vary.
  • We do not settle cost on a page. Cost depends on the procedure or lens chosen and, where it applies, on your coverage, so it is discussed with you in person at your consultation.
  • We name what we use. A laser or lens is named on a page we publish because our surgeons use it, and it is described in the words of its labeling.
  • We state the risks. Every procedure page we publish names its risks in the words of the labeling or the guideline and tells you when to call.

Frequently asked questions

Who reviews the medical pages on this site?

The doctor named on the page. For a page about surgery, that is one of our surgeons who performs that kind of surgery. The practice checks every page before it publishes. 

Does every page on this site carry a reviewed line?

Not every page. The line goes on pages about a procedure, a condition, a risk, or a result. Pages and posts written before this standard was adopted do not carry one; a page about a procedure, a condition, a risk, or a result that is updated is read by the doctor named on it, approved, and published with the line.

What does Medically reviewed by mean?

It means the doctor named on the line has read the page and signed off on it, and the date beside the name is the date of the sign off. The name links to that doctor's page. A page one of our doctors wrote says Written by instead.

Do the doctors write the pages themselves?

If one of our doctors writes a page, it says Written by. Every other medical page is written for the practice from the sources listed on this page, then read by the doctor named on it before it publishes.

Can a reviewed page tell me whether I am a candidate?

A page can tell you who a procedure is usually for and who it is not for. Whether it is right for your eyes takes an exam. It can start with your own eye doctor, who may work with us through co-management, or you can schedule an exam at either of our offices.

Schedule a consultation

If you are weighing eye surgery for the first time, the next step is an exam. Call Commonwealth Eye Surgery in Louisville at (502) 306-9551 to schedule a consultation at our Louisville office, 9780 Ormsby Station Road #200, Louisville, KY 40223, open Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Our Lexington office is (859) 224-2655.

Keep reading

  • Our Doctors: the practice's surgeons and optometrists, each with a link to their own page.
  • Co-management: how the practice works with your own eye doctor.