Cataract surgery is a routine procedure that typically takes about 15 minutes or less. Your eyes will be numbed with anesthetic eye drops and you will be provided a sedative to help you feel comfortable and relaxed. Being “put to sleep” with general sedation is unnecessary for most patients, so the most common form of anesthesia for cataract surgery is to have “twilight” sedation, similar to what people have during a colonoscopy or wisdom tooth extraction.