ABSTRACT
On June 13, 1998, Amar Agarwal successfully performed the first no anesthesia cataract operation during the Phaco and Refractive Surgery conference in Ahmedabad, India, in front of an audience of 250 persons, applying the karate chop technique.1,2 On the occassion of the 1999 ASCRS convention in Seattle, live surgery was performed in India by Sunita Agarwal, Amar Agarwal and Mahipal S Sachdev and communicated via satellite to the meeting in Seattle. All these operations were performed under NO ANESTHESIA. The cataracts were removed through a sub 1 mm incision by Sunita Agarwal and Amar Agarwal using a technique called PHAKONIT. Sunita Agarwal demonstrated laser phacoemulsification, while Mahipal S Sachdev performed high vacuum phacoemulsification.3
