Tatyarao Lahane was born to a farmer. He grew up with his six siblings in his village called Makegaon. Both his kidneys got failed while he was very young and his mother gave one of her kidney to him. He after completion of his education joined JJ Hospital as an ophthalmologist. After serving as a head of the department of ophthalmology, he took over as the Dean of JJ Hospital. The then chief minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh attended the hospital when he did his 100,000th cataract operation in 2007.
In 2010, he was made the dean of renowned Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals. He holds the record for the number of cataract surgeries that he has done. The number is around 1,62,000. Not just the numbers but his achievements too are staggering. For his contribution, he hahs been felicitated with the Padmi Shri Award in the year 2010.