title: Visual experience during cataract surgery.
abstract: Fifty-six sequential patients undergoing cataract surgery using local anaesthesia were invited to complete a questionnaire recording their visual experiences during the surgery. A majority had peribulbar anaesthesia; none had pre- or per-operative sedation. Fifty-four of the patients could see with their eye during the surgery. Two of these patients could perceive only a bright light; the remainder recorded colours (80%), followed by movements (68%), flashes (66%), abstract colour images (55%) and perception of objects (20%). In two-thirds the brightness of the light changed during the course of the operation (most commonly getting brighter) and in one-third the colours perceived changed during the operation. Pictures were drawn by 22 of the patients of their experience during the surgery.
authors.affiliation: Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: I E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Murdoch
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sze
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D003118:Color Perception; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*