Clinical analysis of the dry eye after phacoemulsification in two different incisions

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of different incisions on the dry eye after phacoemulsification. Methods Tear film was monitored in 146 cases (160 eyes) after phacoemulsification. Patients were divided into two groups according to the type of incision: group A (72 cases, 80 eyes) with a sclerotic tunnel incision and group B (74 cases, 80 eyes) with a clear corneal incision. Symptoms of dry eye, break-up time (BUT), cornea fluorescein staining (FL) and schirmer I test (SIt) were observed preoperatively and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively. Results For groups A and B, the dry eye symptom and FL scores were increased and the BUT reduced 1 day and 1 week postoperatively. And all the differences were statistically significant (P 0.05). In addition, group B showed more distinct changes in eye symptom, BUT and FL scores compared to groups A 1 day and 1 week postoperatively. And all the differences were statistically significant (P 0.05). After the operation, both groups had elevated SIT with statistical significance at all the four time points mentioned above (P 0.05). Conclusions The scleral tunnel and clear corneal incisions from phacoemulsification may cause dry eye syndrome in the early stage of postoperatively. Particularly, the clear corneal incisions can induce severer syndrome than the scleral tunnel incisions. Key words: Phacoemulsification; Scleral tunnel incision; Clear corneal incision; Dry eye