What they gave me (I had two of these cataract procedures just about a year ago) was very simple. It put me out for about five minutes, just long enough to get me from the prep room to the OR. When I woke up while they were getting the instruments ready, I was listening to the surgeon chat with the nurses. I chimed in because I wasn't sure I was really supposed to be awake, but the surgeon answered me and included me in the conversation from then on (he was talking about his upcoming trip to India, where he does free cataract operations every year when not visiting his relatives).
He told me every step of the procedure, just before he did it. I felt practically nothing, just the tiniest bit of pressure in the eyeball. Incidentally, the incision is amazingly tiny, only about a millimeter. They run an ultrasound probe in there and break up the clouded lens, then vacuum it out. The new lens is folded up and inserted so it can unfold in place.
I'm not sure how it works, but I was pretty much immobilized. Not strapped in, but had no inclination to move a muscle, and perfectly comfortable. Amazingly efficient procedure.
A month later, the other eye was done, everything identical except for a different conversation.
I was utterly terrified going into the first one, but perfectly relaxed for the second one.
