ESCRS 2026: Why surgeons should be willing to use what they prescribe to patients

Mfazo Hove, MD, FRCOphth, a consultant ophthalmologist based in London, told Ophthalmology Times Europe at the 44th Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS; September 11–15, 2026; London, England) that surgeons who prescribe premium treatments to patients should be willing to have those same treatments themselves.

Practising what you prescribe

Hove said he has noticed laser surgeons who still wear glasses, having never had laser surgery themselves, and that many surgeons who implant premium intraocular lenses (IOLs) in patients would not necessarily choose a premium lens for their own eyes. “The argument I have is if you don't believe in it, or trust it enough to have it in your own eyes, then the question you should be asking yourself is why you'd give it to your patients,” he said. Hove added that he did not need glasses for distance after his own surgery.

An analogy with hospital smoking policies

Hove compared that standard to hospital policies such as those at the Cleveland Clinic, where he said it is “not compatible” to work as a doctor and smoke. He described how job applicants there are asked to provide a urine sample, and a test that shows a candidate is a smoker will cost them the job—though the hospital will also offer free smoking cessation support. Hove said the message behind that policy is that smoking is not compatible with the values the hospital expects its doctors to hold.

The parallel with ophthalmology

Hove drew a direct line between that standard and his own field: it is not that ophthalmologists don't get cataracts themselves, he said, but that they should be willing to have the same technology they offer their patients, “because otherwise we're doing them a disservice.” He acknowledged that living up to that standard is not always straightforward, comparing it to his own effort to manage his weight while advising patients to lose weight, but said the underlying principle still holds. For Hove, the common thread across both examples is accountability: a profession's credibility, he suggested, rests on practitioners holding themselves to the same standard they set for the people in their care.