PHACOSIT: A sitting phacoemulsification technique for patients unable to lie down flat during cataract surgery

Phacoemulsification is routinely performed with the patient lying supine on the surgical table with his or her head flat and facing the overhead microscope. This routine technique can be a challenge in medical conditions such as kyphosis, scoliosis, orthopnea, Meniere’s disease, and CNS abnormality. Some cardiovascular and respiratory conditions make the patients breathless when they lie down, whereas other neurological and spinal problem patients are also equally uncomfortable. The only reasonable solution to conduct surgery on a patient who cannot lie down flat on the operating table is to position them face to face in a sitting position. We describe an innovative phacoemulsification technique in a sitting position called “phacosit” in an 80-year-old wheelchair-bound female patient who was denied cataract surgery by other eye surgeons owing to her medical condition.