MODEL RELEASED. Cataract surgery. Surgeon using a microscope during cataract surgery. He is using the microscope to look at the patient's eye where heis operating (lower left). A cataract is an abnormal cloudy and opaque area that can form in the lens of an eye. The condition will lead to blindness unless it is treated. Cataract surgery involves cutting the cornea (at the front of the eye), removing the cloudy lens, and replacing it with a plastic fixed-focus lens.