Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure that will only take about 10 minutes to perform but plan on being at the surgery center for about 2 hours.

When you arrive, your eyes will be dilated with eye drops and anesthetic drops will be applied to minimize any discomfort during the operation.

You may receive an I.V. or oral Valium for some mild sedation. Many patients do not remember the surgery due to the sedative.

During this routine operation, a small incision, 1/12 of an inch, is made in the eye. Your surgeon will use a tiny instrument (about the size of a pen tip) to remove your clouded lens. This will be done with an ultrasonic instrument that emulsifies and gently removes your cloudy lens (called phacoemulsification) Once this is accomplished, your surgeon will insert an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) into your eye.