A survey of local anaesthesia use in cataract surgery in Australia

A survey of the use of local anaesthesia in cataract surgery by ophthalmologists in Australia is presented. The main conclusions drawn from the survey were: 1. A marked trend towards the use of local anaesthesia in cataract surgery during the years 1983-88 throughout Australia. A less marked trend in country areas and in Western Australia. 2. The use of local anaesthesia did not correlate with the number of cataract operations performed by an ophthalmologist. 3. Day case cataract surgery was more often performed under local anaesthesia in private than in public hospitals. 4. Throughout Australia retrobulbar local anaesthesia was preferred to the peribulbar technique. 5. The most commonly used local anaesthetic mixture was 2% lignocaine and 0.5% marcaine with or without adrenaline and/or hyalase.