Phacosurgery (in contrast with conventional cataract surgery) is a newer procedure for the surgical treatment of cataracts.

The "phaco" prefix refers to "phacoemulsification", which describes the surgical procedure of fragmenting the cataract-afflicted lens into small pieces by high frequency waves, prior to lens replacement.

The recovery time in phacosurgery is usually less than for conventional cataract surgery. This is because the incision used is smaller, and no surture is required. Phacosurgery is the recommended procedure in developed countries - eg: in England, 97% of cataract surgery done there in the year 2002-2003 was phacosurgery rather than conventional surgery.

In practice, with a skilled surgeon, the final result after full recovery from the operation is the same for both phacosurgery and conventional cataract surgery.

The difference for the patient occurs during the recovery phase. Phacosurgery, being surtureless, gives no foreign body sensation. With conventional cataract surgery there is not only a foreign body sensation for a few weeks, but the recovery time tends to be longer if the surgeon is not that skilled.