Retinal Thickness After Cataract Surgery Measured by Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose: To report the early postoperative macular change in uncomplicated phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Methods: A retrospective study of 36 consecutive eyes of 36 patients, who underwent phacoemulsification cataract surgery and OCT, preoperatively and postoperatively was made. In 16 eyes from group 1, nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy without macular edema was present before the cataract surgery. In the other 20 eyes (group 2), no systemic or ocular pathology was present . Results: The meanstandard deviation (SD) follow up after cataract surgery was 41 weeks in each group. In group 1, the meanSD retinal thickness increased from 20114 m preoperatively to 24322 m 3 hrs after cataract surgery (P=0.38). In group 2, the meanSD retinal thickness increased from 21210 m preoperatively to 24624 m 3 hrs after cataract surgery (P=0.55). Conclusions: This study showed that uncomplicated phacoemulsification cataract surgery has no immediate influence on retinal thickness.