As already stated, cataract surgery normally takes around 10 - 20 minutes per eye.
However mine took over an hour for the first eye, and an hour and three quarters for the second. A drill had to be used to drill the cataract out; the first one was drilled out slowly as expected, without problem, but the second one wasn't stony like the first ; instead it was rather rubbery round the edges and although the centre was drillable, strings of the rubber-like stuff started to escape into the vitreous as the stonier bits were drilled out. BTW it is actually an ultrasound drill, developed from dental ones. I can only emphasise, though, that none of it was painful in the slightest. It was all just very, very odd! On my first eye - one with a great deal of corneal scarring - the surgeon 'tapped' my eyeball to see if it needed stitches and again, that was a most odd sensation and a most unpleasant one too - but, again, not painful and of such short duration that I actually wondered if I'd imagined it ... I asked, I hadn't imagined it and he apologised. I also told him that I'd found it all very interesting, but mysterious due to not being able to see anything, and that some sort of running commentary - even if just saying what all the machinery noises were - would be great. What happened as a result of that is another story, though!
After my first surgery, I had crystal-clear sharp vision in the operated eye (but everything around me tilted at a 45deg angle ... what was that about eh!) as I was waiting for my transport back home ie within half an hour of leaving the operating theatre, but by the time the driver was helping me into the vehicle, it had started to blur and once I'd arrived home I was effectively blind again. But only for a few hours!
Each eye progressed very similarly, although the second - with the difficulties during surgery - was about three or four days slower to reach each step than was the first. I started to get really useful vision with the first eye within less than 48 hours;
I found the eyedrops routine quite a challenge and for the first week after each surgery it seemed to take up most of my day - but if I forgot or delayed one, by crikey I knew about it! As long as I did the drops as instructed, I had no more than very minor discomfort; the worst thing was 'unsticking' my eye in the morning. Cotton pads soaked in sterile saline took care of that, though.
Prior to surgery, with advice from my optometrist and discussion with my surgeon and the clinic's optometrist, I'd requested to maintain a small degree of myopia - the aim was -2.5 dioptres. or thereabouts - in both eyes, but with no promises as that was a MASSIVE change.
I had more follow ups than a basic cataract patient would have - 3, 6, 9 and 12 mo - as other things were (still are) going on - and of course there was the issue of the rubbery strings!
Six weeks after my second cataract surgery, I had -2 dioptres in my right eye and -2.5 in my left. Almost exactly what was aimed for!
However, that was not the end of the matter. There were vision changes detectable by me and easily measurable by the optometrist, up to 6 mo - so further checks made by ophthalmic surgeon - but after that, everything stabilised and I've ended up with -0.5 dioptres Rt and -3.5 Lt on my one year follow-up so, effectively, almost 20/20 vision on my Rt and good reading/close vision on my Lt. It's not something I'd ever have asked for but it works like a charm - and even my astigmatism is reduced to the extent that I only detect it when I'm really tired (apparently not a stated benefit of cataract surgery, but it often happens - that's what my wonderful surgeon, Felipe, said). My optometrist also told me that he sees many people post cataract surgery who have a remarkable reduction in their required astigmatism correction.
I never thought I'd adapt - I'd even decided before surgery, that if I didn't need specs afterwards, that I'd get some with plain lenses in, to feel 'less naked'. I'd never known life without them - glasses had been part of me for 70 years - but after the first few weeks of sensitivity to light and thus wearing dark glasses constantly - I've never missed them, except that sometimes I move my hand to push them up my nose ... and they aren't there!
LOVE IT!
