RESUMO
In the field of ophthalmology, perhaps no other surgery has undergone such rapid changes in the past few decades, as the surgery for cataract. Over these years there has been an emergence of small incision cataract surgery, especially by phaco-emulsification. It offers a number of attractive benefits to both the surgeon and the patient. Phaco has now captured the centre stage in the surgical management of cataract. With the advent of phaco it became imperative to design incision in a valvular manner to provide water tight anterior chamber, to design phacoprofile intra-ocular lenses specifically foldable intra-ocular lenses, instruments for precision and better control, better visco-elastic material and irrigating fluids. These advancements in this field have revolutionised the management of cataract surgery and have facilitated achieving new peaks in quality of surgery and recovery of visual acuity to precataract stage and correction of pre-existing astigmatism.