Changes in Optical Quality of Cataract Patients' Corrected Visual Acuity before and after Phacoemulsification

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate objectively the improvement level of a patient's visual function using the NEI-VFQ-25 questionnaire pre- and post-operatively and the OQAS results from the patient group who had the same corrected visual acuity pre- and post-operatively. METHODS: We examined and compared the NEI-VFQ-25 test, OSI, MTF cut-off, strehl ratio, OQAS, and width at 50% and 10% in 24 eyes of 24 patients who had cataract surgery between December 2011 and February 2012. The patients' corrected visual acuity in both eyes had no change (0.8 and 0.8) pre-operatively and 2 months post-operatively (1.0 and 1.0). RESULTS: The satisfaction level regarding the patients' visual function increased. The NEI-VFQ-25 test was 71.54 +/- 14.88 points pre-operatively and 85.70 +/- 6.17 points post-operatively. OSI decreased to 3.13 +/- 1.66 (OSI value) and 1.53 +/- 0.58 (OSI value), and MTF cut off value improved from 14.51 +/- 6.97 (C/deg) to 27.63 +/- 8.98 (C/deg). Strehl ratio was improved to 0.09 +/- 0.03 and 0.14 +/- 0.03, width at 50% improved to 8.44 +/- 3.73 and 4.52 +/- 1.90 and width at 10% improved to 35.30 +/- 15.22 and 18.04 +/- 8.87 pre- and post-operatively, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The NEI-VFQ-25 test reflected the vision improvement in patients where after cataract surgery, determination of the visual function improvement only through vision would not be possible. In addition, the OQAS showed the quality of vision improved through quantified values.