Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate predictability, safety, and efficacy of simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery with respect to patient outcomes and complication rates.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective study of consecutive patients who had simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery on the same day or separate bilateral cataract surgery with an interval of 1 month between operations. The changes in refraction, visual acuity, and complication rates were compared between the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and separate bilateral cataract surgery groups at postoperative one month. The incidence of endophthalmitis was investigated on 836 eyes of the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery performed at our hospital from January 2010 to July 2014.
Results:
Thirty patients (60 eyes) who had simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and thirty patients (60 eyes) who had separate bilateral cataract surgery were enrolled in this study. The preoperative best-corrected visual acuity (logMAR) was 0.42 ± 0.13 in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and 0.36 ± 0.34 in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group, and it improved postoperatively to 0.14 ± 0.12 in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and to 0.13 ± 0.16 in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.785). In addition, 98.2% of eyes in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and 97.0% of eyes in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group were within 1.0 diopters of the mean absolute error, and there was no incidence of endophthalmitis in 418 patients (836 eyes) of the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group.
Conclusions:
Simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery may be an effective and safe bilateral<br /> cataract surgery option with a high degree of patient satisfaction.