Visual outcome and postop complications of cataract surgery in patients with OSD

Cataract surgery outcome can be visually rewarding in patients with ocular surface disorders (OSD) provided ocular surface integrity is adequately maintained preoperatively and postoperatively, according to researchers of a recent retrospective observational study.

The study from a North India tertiary eye care center included 20 men and 24 women with various ocular surface disorders with stabilized ocular surfaces who underwent cataract surgery and had a minimum postop follow-up of 6 weeks. The primary outcome measures were post-operative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 6 weeks, best BCVA and postoperative complications.

A total of 55 eyes were evaluated including 35 eyes with Steven-Johnson syndrome (SJS), 4 eyes with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP), 8 eyes with dry eye disease (DED), 6 eyes with chemical injury and 2 eyes with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC). The mean duration of ocular surface disorder was 33.9 months. The median preoperative BCVA was 2.0. The median BCVA ever achieved was 0.50 at 2 months and the median BCVA at 6 weeks was 0.6. Maximum improvement in BCVA was observed in patients with DED and SJS and the least in OCP. Phacoemulsification was performed in 47.27% eyes with intraoperative complications noted in 9% eyes. Postoperative surface complications occurred in 12 (21.82%) eyes, while other postop complications occurred in 9 (16%) eyes.

Reference
Aggarwal M, Gour A, Gupta N, Singh A, Sangwan V. Visual outcome and postoperative complications of cataract surgery in patients with ocular surface disorders. J Cataract Refract Surg. Published online January 16, 2024. doi:10.1097/j.jcrs.0000000000001396