Knock Knock Eye: Why Do We Still Require Pre-Op Clearance for Cataract Surgery?

Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens · Feb 12, 2026 · 36m

Let’s talk about something deeply unsexy but incredibly important: pre-op clearance for cataract surgery.

After watching a colleague get sent to their own primary care doctor for a seven-minute procedure under minimal sedation, I realized how far we’ve drifted from common sense. Cataract surgery is one of the safest, most routine operations in medicine, yet we’re still funneling millions of patients into unpaid, unnecessary pre-op visits.

In this episode, I break down how we got here, why ophthalmologists end up looking like the bad guys, and how liability culture, not patient safety, is…