Pupillary light responses after uncomplicated cataract surgery

Abstract

AbstractPurpose: To study the effect of standard cataract surgery in the static and dynamic pupillary light responses.Methods: An observational prospective study was carried out in patients scheduled for cataract surgery. Exclusion criteria were previous ocular surgeries or diseases or intraoperative complications. Cataract surgery was done using phacoemulsification and intrasaccular monofocal intraocular lens implantation. Monocular infrared dynamic pupillometry was performed using white light (Corneal Analyser CA‐800, Topcon) just before surgery (same day), and at 1 week and 1 month after surgery. Pupil diameter was analysed under scotopic (SPD) and photopic (PPD) conditions, and latency to constriction (LC), latency to plateau (LP) and duration of constriction (DC) were also analysed. Statistical analysis was carried out with One Way ANOVA for paired data.Results: Twenty‐seven eyes from 27 patients (10 males and 17 females) were included. The mean age was 69.5 ± 9 years. Preoperative SPD and PPD values were 5.21 ± 1.1 mm and 2.78 ± 0.8 mm and decreased significantly by 1 week and 1 month after surgery (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.012, respectively). Preoperative LC, LP and DC values were 2.52 ± 0.09 s, 4.84 ± 0.35 s, and 10.9 ± 1.71 s and these values did not change significantly after surgery.Conclusions: Cataract surgery decreases the pupillary diameter both in photopic and scotopic conditions but does not modify the pupillary responses to light.