Your cataract surgery will be performed at the main hospital building at 2425 Geary Boulevard. When you arrive, you will need to take the elevators to the Ambulatory Service Unit (ASU) on the 4th floor.

At the ASU, the nursing staff will greet you and have you change into a gown. An IV will be placed in one of your arms, and you will be given several eye drops to prepare you for surgery. Approximately 30 minutes before your surgery, you will be taken to the preoperative holding area by an attendant.

Next, you will be brought to the preoperative holding area, where you will see your doctor. You will also meet the anesthetist, who will place a blood pressure cuff on your arm and heart monitors on your chest. The anesthetist will give you some medication in your IV to make you comfortable for the surgery.

Once in the operating room, your eye doctor, along with the scrub nurse and circulating nurse, will do everything to ensure that you are comfortable during your surgery.

After your surgery, a patch and/or shield is placed over the eye. The nursing staff will monitor you while you rest. Once the sedation has worn off, you can be taken home by your family or friends. It is important that someone accompany you home, as you may still be drowsy after the surgery. Leave the patch/shield on your eye.

You will have an appointment to see your eye doctor the day after your surgery. We will remove the patch/shield from your eye at this appointment.