One of the rights of passage for an ophthalmology resident is cataract surgery, kind of like for otolaryngologists it's the ear tubes, for the general surgeons the appendectomies, and for the urologists the cystoscopes. One could argue it is much more technical that many of the other surgeries we do, but nonetheless, we start early with them.
The whole surgery is a conglomeration of small steps, none of which individually take very long, which together accomplish the removal of a cataract and placement of an artificial lens. Some of these steps are easy to learn and others take time and time again to get them halfway correct.
But the very first one, the one in which anything can go wrong, is one to sweat and clench through. A good cataract surgeon can enter the eye with the first step and be done in 10-15 minutes. A maiden case takes often an hour, or more. Thankfully, mine went well, and they have done so since then. And patients frequently don't care if it takes so long - they can almost all see better afterwards and are incredibly grateful. Kids are less so after ear tubes - they don't typically know the difference.
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