Office procedures following vitreoretinal surgery.

Abstract

To the Editor. —I read with interest the article by Landers et al 1 in the JulyArchives. While I could conceivably perform many of the procedures in my garage, the cavalier attitude, or lack thereof, to be more precise, toward asepsis disturbs me. There is an ongoing trend toward ever-increasing outpatient surgery for reasons of cost-effectiveness as well as for reducing patient anxiety. Nonetheless, there is no mention of draping the patient or preoperative preparation of the eyelids with any type of antiseptic. The fact that these procedures may be done on a routine basis in a treatment room environment does not preclude the theoretical advantage of swabbing down the slit lamp or the room. It represents a trivialization of basic surgical tenets. If it is not necessary to prepare a patient for an intraocular gas injection or fluid exchange, why are we doing cataract operations in operating rooms