ABSTRACT
Anesthesia for Cataract Surgery has undergone tremendous changes and advancements in last century. In 1846 general anesthesia techniques were developed which were not found suitable and satisfactory for ophthalmic surgery. In 1884 Koller discovered surface anesthesia techniques using topical cocaine for cataract surgeries which found favor with the ophthalmologists. However, due to significant complications and side effects of cocaine Herman Knopp in 1884 described retrobulbar injection as local anesthetic technique for ocular surgery. He used 4 percent cocaine solution injected into the orbital tissue close to posterior part of the globe to achieve adequate anesthesia but in the subsequent injections patients experienced pain. In 1914 Van Lint introduced orbicularis
akinesia by local injection to supplement subconjunctival and topical anesthesia. However, this technique found favor only after 1930 when procaine (Novocaine) a safer injectable agent made it feasible.
