Editorial Policy

Be Healthy exists to explain cataracts and cataract surgery clearly, carefully, and from sources that can be trusted. This page describes how the content is put together and kept right.

Who writes and who checks

The lived parts, the worry, the day of surgery, the weeks of healing, are written by Pauline Driscoll from her own experience of having both eyes done. The clinical parts are written from authoritative sources and then read by a consultant ophthalmic surgeon, Mr Lewis Pereira, FRCOphth, who specialises in cataract and lens surgery. Articles that cover clinical topics carry his name, his credentials, and the date he reviewed them.

The sources behind the words

Where an article states a fact about the eye, the operation, the risks, or the outcomes, it rests on recognised bodies: the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, NICE (guideline NG77 on cataracts in adults), the NHS, the World Health Organization, and peer-reviewed ophthalmology research. These are cited at the foot of each article so you can check them yourself.

How we handle numbers

Success rates, complication rates, and costs shift with the study, the technique, the country, and the year. So we give ranges rather than single promises, write figures as plain words such as “around 9 in 10” or “4 to 6 weeks”, name where a figure comes from, and never imply that a group statistic predicts your individual result. Whether and when to operate is always a decision made with your own surgeon.

Keeping articles current

Cataract guidance and evidence move on, so we revisit published articles and update them when they fall out of step. Each article shows when it was first published and, where relevant, when it was last updated or reviewed.

No selling

We take no payment to favour any surgeon, clinic, lens brand, or laser system, and the writing is shaped to inform rather than to push you towards a purchase. If that ever changed, the relationship would be stated plainly on the page.

Telling us about an error

If something here looks wrong or out of date, please flag it through the Contact page with the article title and what you spotted, and we will look into it quickly.