A surgical procedure where the cataractous crystalline lens and its surrounding lens capsule is removed in one piece, leaving the patient aphakic, or without a lens. The method has mostly been abandoned due to slow visual recovery, more complications, delayed healing of wound, and lack of capsular support for a posterior chamber intraocular lens. Poor outcomes mean the patient is heavily reliant on thick glasses with peripheral vision distortions. However, it can be done on patients with densely brunescent, mature, or hypermature cataracts.
