Background: Sedation during local anesthesia is often desirable to diminish anxiety and fear associated with the operation room activity and surgical preparation. Propofol offers many advantages for conscious sedation given its favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Many manual methods for the administration of propofol have been developed. The use of computer-controlled infusions of propofol has been developed to overcome drawbacks of manual schemes of infusion, allowing an easier and more accurate achievement and maintenance of a desired target concentration of propofol. This study was designed to compare target-controlled versus manual controlled infusion of propofol for conscious sedation during ophthalmic surgery under local anesthesia. Materials and methods: eighty ASA I and II were enrolled in the study, they were randomly assigned to receive propofol by either a target-controlled infusion (TCI) device (n=40), or a conventional syringe infusion pump (n=40). In the TCI group, the initial target concentration of propofol was set at 0.8 /ml to be increased by 0.2 /ml increments every 2 minutes in an attempt to reach an observer’s assessment of alertness/ sedation (OAA/S) score of 3 and a bispectral index (BIS) range of 75-85. In the conventional syringe pump group, the propofol infusion was set at 30 /kg/min to be increased by 10 /kg/min increments in an attempt to reach an OAA/S score of 3 and a BIS range of 75-85. Results: both groups were comparable as regard hemodynamics and respiratory effects. Required adjustments of propofol infusion were significantly more frequent in the manual infusion group than the TCI group (P < 0.005). The total amount of administered propofol tended to be higher in the TCI group, but with no significant difference between the groups. The total consumed propofol (including drug that was disposed of after the operation) was significantly more in the TCI group than the manual infusion group (P < 0.0001). Recovery profile was comparable between both groups, with tendency of patients in the manual infusion group to recover faster. Conclusion: both target and manually controlled infusion of propofol were similar in terms of safety (haemodynamic and respiratory effects), and efficacy. Both techniques allowed early recovery and discharge. TCI offers little, clinical benefit over simple continuous infusion for maintenance of sedation. Keywords: conscious sedation, infusion devices, TCI, propofol, bispectral index.