Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the conjunctival microbiota ofpatients undergoing cataract surgery and evaluate its antibiotic resistance pattern. Alsoto in-vitro evaluate the antimicrobial effects of some essential oils against multidrugresistant isolates. Methodology: Ocular samples were collected using swabs andpolymethyl-metaacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lenses from seventy patients submitted tocataract surgery. Isolation and identification of bacteria was performed usingconventional microbiological methods. Antibiotic sensitivity was done by disc diffusionmethod. The sensitivity of 16 essential oils against isolated bacteria was tested usingwell diffusion method. Results: Thirty six strains were isolated from patients submitted tocataract surgery. Gram positive microorganisms represent 75% of the isolates withcoagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) the most common isolate (47.2%) followed byS.aureus (19.4%), whereas gram negative occurred in 25% of cases, with Moraxella spp.the most frequent Gram negative isolate. Antibiotic sensitivity test revealed that thehighest antibiotic resistance was exhibited against ceftazidime (100%) followed byclindamycin (86%), ampicillin (80.5%), erythromycin (72.2%) and tetracycline (69.4%).Gentamycin displayed the best activity (55.5%) followed by chloramphenicol (44.4%)and vancomycin (38.88%). Fifteen essential oils showed antibacterial effect against oneor more bacterial strains. The most potent oils were peppermint oil, dill oil, cinnamon oilwhich showed promising inhibitory activity against most tested bacterial species,whereas cotton, ginger, chamomile, blue green, cod liver and parsley oil were the leastactive against tested strains. Olive oil failed to inhibit any of the tested strains. Ingeneral, St. pneumoniae was the most susceptible organism as it inhibited by ten oils.Conclusion: Our results indicate a promising antibacterial effect of peppermint oil, dilloil and cinnamon oil against conjunctival microorganisms.