POSTOPERATIVE DRY EYE IN CATARACT SURGERY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MANUAL SMALL INCISION CATARACT SURGERY AND PHACOEMULSIFICATION TECHNIQUE

Aim:Tocomparethe incidence of dryeyefollowingphacoemulsificationandmanual smallincision cataract surgery at a tertiary care hospital.

Materials and Methods: A prospective, comparative hospital-based study was done. 50 eyes of 50 patients were taken and divided into 2 groups. Groups A and B had undergone SICS and phacoemulsification, respectively for senile cataract and had preoperativeSchirmer Test(ST-1) values >/= 10 mm, Tear film Breakup Time (TBUT) >/=10 seconds. Patients were assessed at 1 week and 6 weeks postoperativelyfor signs of dryeye using ST – 1 and TBUT.

Results: The incidence of dry eye as per ST-1 was maximum at 1 week in SICS group (40%) followed byphacoemulsification group(24%). By the end of 6 weeks dry eye almost reduced. The incidence of dry eye as per TBUT was peaking at 1week and was maximum in SICS group (32%) than phacoemulsification group(16%). This gradually decreased by 6 weeks.

Conclusion: According to our study, we conclude that Phacoemulsification resulted in lesser incidenceof dry eye than SICS. The dry eye parameters showed a worsening in the early postoperative period but improved by the end of 6 weeks in both the groups.