Shorter intraocular time can be beneficial only when achieved through refinement and experience, not haste. Operating quickly without precision increases risk rather than reducing it.
Potential Benefits of Reduced Intraocular Time
In routine cataract surgery, reducing unnecessary intraocular manipulation may be associated with:
- Lower ultrasound energy delivery to the eye
- Reduced fluid turbulence within the anterior chamber
- Less stress on delicate ocular structures
These factors can support faster early visual recovery in selected cases.
When Shorter Time Improves Safety
Shorter surgical time improves safety only when it results from highly standardised technique, controlled movements, and early recognition of intra-operative cues. Surgeons typically reach this level of refinement after performing large volumes of cataract surgery with continuous outcome monitoring.
Efficiency then becomes a natural by-product of experience rather than an imposed target. For more detail, see Is 5-Minute Cataract Surgery Really Possible?
What This Means for Patients
Techniques such as 4-Minute Phaco™, developed by Mfazo Hove at Blue Fin Vision®, describe this type of workflow-based optimisation. Reduced intraocular time reflects process maturity rather than speed for its own sake.
Ultimately, complication rates and visual outcomes, not minutes, remain the true measures of surgical safety.
