Preferred Practice Pattern® guidelines ("PPP") are designed to identify characteristics and components of quality eye care. Developed by a panel of ophthalmologists with expertise in the guideline topic, a methodologist, and other experts (the Quality of Care Secretariat and the PPP Committee) and based on the best available scientific data, PPPs provide guidance for the pattern of practice, not for the care of a particular individual. Summary Benchmarks distill relevant recommendations for care from PPPs in an easy-to-use format.

To ensure all PPPs are current, recommendations for care are reviewed annually. Each PPP is valid for five years from the date of issue unless superseded by a revision. View the PPP Revision and Publication Schedule. Authors and reviewers of PPPs are volunteers and do not receive any financial compensation for their contributions to the documents. Guidelines are developed by the Academy's H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD Center for Quality Eye Care and Academy-approved without any external financial support and are externally reviewed by experts and stakeholders before publication.

The Academy complies with the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) Code for Interactions with Companies (available at www.cmss.org/codeforinteractions.aspx) in developing PPPs by following the Preferred Practice Patterns and Ophthalmic Technology Assessments New Relationship with Industry Procedures.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY and PREFERRED PRACTICE PATTERN are registered trademarks of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. All other trademarks are the property of ther respective owners.

Downloading of PPPs for personal use is permitted.

Reproduction or transmission of PPPs, in electronic or print media, is expressly prohibited without written permission of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. To request permission to reproduce or reprint PPPs or to link to this website, contact dmarchi@aao.org.

For information on licensing translation rights to PPPs, contact translations@aao.org.