Cataract Surgery Using a Sleral Pocket Incision of 7 mm in Length

ABSTRACT

During a eight-month period from june 1993, cataract surgery using a scleral pocket of 7 mm in length was performed on 30 eyes of 26 patients. In order to evaluate the effect of chamber entry length and closure technique on astigmatic changes and visual recovary, three different surgical procedures were carried out and compared retrospectively. The visual acuity, refraction and keratometry were assessed at every week. The H group(15 eyes) had a single horizontal suture after phacoemulsification followed by implantation of a one piece of PMMA lens through 7 mm chamber entry. The F group(6 eyes) had a single horizontal suture followed by implantation of a foldable lens through 4 mm chamber entry. The R group(9 eyes) had a single radial suture followed by implantation of one piece of PMMA lens through 7 mm chamber entry. Overall uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better was 67% at 1 week, 93% at 8 weeks postoperatively and there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups(p>0.05). The overall change of mean refractive astigmatism from 1 to 8 weeks postoperatively was 0.69D and there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups(p>0.05). The overall change of mean keratometric astigmatism method from 1 to 8 weeks postoperatively was 0.12D and there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups(p>0.05). Early clinical observations indicate that cataract surgery using a scleral pocket of 7 mm in length shows early visual recovery and minimizes surgically induced astigmatism without serious complications.