Disturbances in the Ocular Surface Microbiome by Perioperative Antimicrobial Eye Drops.

We aimed to elucidate the effects of antimicrobial eye drops used in the perioperative period of ophthalmic surgery on ocular surface microbiome by metagenomic analysis. Twenty-eight eyes from 15 patients (mean age 74.1 years) with no history of eye drop use within 3 months before cataract surgery were included in this study. Gatifloxacin eye drops were used in all patients in the perioperative period. The antimicrobial eye drops were started 3 days before surgery. They were discontinued after conjunctival sac specimen collection for 2 weeks after the surgery. Conjunctival sac specimen was collected to investigate the alterations in the ocular surface microbiome by meta-16S analysis targeting the V3-V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene.