Some questions about the state of the eye surface in patients before cataract surgery

Abstract

Introduction. Ocular surface status is a main risk factor for the development of postoperative complications and lead to the decrease of life quality. Purpose of the study.The condition of the surface of the eye in patients before cataract surgery was study. Material and methods. 320 patients preoperative the cataract surgery were investigated, among them 172 patients were female, 148 – were male. Patients with any previous ocular surgery or concomitant ocular diseases were excluded. The structure of common non-ocular comorbidities, subjective signs of ocular surface damage (redness, foreign body sensation, dryness, burning) and objective symptoms (tear break up time, cornea fluorescein staining) were carried out. Patients with asymptomatic forms of cornea staining were identified. Results. It was found that 100 patients (31,2%) had subjective signs (specific complains) of ocular surface damage and 135 patients (35,5%) had positive corneal staining. Specific complains and obvious ocular surface damage were revealed in 17,7% and latent ocular surface damage – in 16,9% of patients. Thus 49% of patients had asymptomatic form of ocular surface damage. In the group of patients with diabetes mellitus healthy ocular surface was observed only in 35,6% cases, asymptomatic form of ocular surface damage consisted 72,9% and obvious damage – 16,9% among all patients. Conclusion. Ocular surface dysfunction is common among patients before cataract surgery, especially in diabetes mellitus. Clinicians should be aware of this high prevalence and consider ocular surface screening before cataract surgery.

Keywords

• ocular surface damage
• cataract
• tear break up time
• fluorescein corneal staining