Lasers are not fun. Especially when they're not aiming at the cornea/etc flap and instead are intentionally burning your torn retina flap to "photocoagulate"/glue it back on to the back of they eyeball with the rest of the retina. It hurts quite a bit (like getting punched in the eyeball 300 times) and you have to remain perfectly still with your eye always looking at the the same exact spot for 20 minutes minutes while the doctor flashes the green laser at random unpredictable intervals. There are no resting intervals. It's very intense and difficult to hold so still while getting hurt. And sometimes the laser will literally hit a nerve and suddenly you'll feel like puking. I had this done to both eyes in the last month and both times I left absolutely soaked in sweat and pale like a ghost.

I still can't look at flashing green LEDs the same way. Too many bad memories.

That said, this electroforming process sounds even worse than photocuagulation! I can't imagine it being a procedure they could do to a conscious person.

Don't they typically do local anesthetic for eye surgeries? I know at least some offices do for IOL placement.

Wow, TIL. My ICL surgery was, IIRC, much faster, too. Of course, all the real work was done upfront, so there was no during-surgery shaping to go on.