Unless otherwise instructed, you should take your usual medications with a sip of water. About an hour before surgery, you will be given drops to dilate your pupil. A sedative may be ordered by your physician to help you relax. While general anesthesia can be used for eye surgery, it is a greater risk to your heart and lungs. General anesthesia is usually reserved for longer surgical procedures or young patients.
Most cataract surgery is performed using local anesthesia.
A local anesthetic involves several small injections around your eye. There is slight temporary discomfort to these injections, much as getting Novocaine in the dentist's office. The injections prevent you from feeling pain in your eye or from moving the eye. Once the eye is numbed, you are moved into the operating room. You will be awake, but drowsy.