Moolchand Doctors Pioneer World's Smallest Cataract Surgery Incision at 0.7mm

We are proud to announce that our Team of Ophthalmology at Moolchand, New Delhi — Dr. Krishna Vaitheeswaran, Dr. Preetinder Kaur, and Dr. Monika Nadar — has achieved a landmark milestone in eye care. We have developed and published a revolutionary bimanual microincision cataract surgical technique using an incision of just 0.7mm, the smallest ever reported globally for cataract surgery.

Our research has been published in the Indian Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (2026) and marks a significant leap forward in minimally invasive ophthalmology.

About Our Technique

Our procedure uses ultra-fine 25-gauge (25-G) instruments and a prechop nucleotomy approach that mechanically fragments the cataract before emulsification, significantly reducing the ultrasound energy required during surgery. While conventional microincision cataract surgery typically uses incisions of 1.8–2.2mm, our technique pushes the boundary well below one millimeter, overcoming longstanding surgical challenges that had previously limited the widespread adoption of sub-millimeter approaches.

Our Key Outcomes

We conducted this study on 15 patients with varying grades of cataract hardness and are pleased to report the following results:

• Zero intraoperative complications in all patients
• Stable anterior chamber maintained throughout all procedures
• Mean effective phaco time of just 2.24 seconds
• 100% of our patients achieved a distance visual acuity of 6/12 or better at final follow-up
• 80% of our patients showed a 2-line or more improvement in vision on postoperative Day 1
• Significantly low higher-order aberrations, resulting in superior contrast sensitivity and functional vision

What This Means for Our Patients

This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to surgical excellence and innovation. We believe our patients deserve the very best in eye care, and this technique delivers exactly that — faster healing, reduced inflammation, lower surgical-induced astigmatism, and early visual rehabilitation, all through the world's smallest cataract surgery incision.

We will continue to pursue further research and randomised controlled trials to establish this technique's role in routine cataract surgical practice and make it accessible to more patients.

Source: Indian Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Vol. 1, Issue 3, 2026 | DOI: 10.4103/ICRS.ICRS_18_25