Cataract surgery is performed in a hospital or day surgery unit as a day procedure. The operation is performed with the help of an anaesthetist who administers a short acting intravenous sedative, followed by a local anaesthetic around the eye. The cataract surgery will take approximately 15 minutes. You need to lie flat on your back and remain still for the duration of the surgery. Let your surgeon know if you anticipate any problems with this. The surgery requires 3 small incisions through the cornea, the lens is removed by a process known as a phacoemulsification, which emulsifies and removes the lens by aspiration. An artificial lens in inserted in the same location that the cataractous lens used to be, that is behind the iris and pupil. The lens lasts forever.