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Subject Area

Cardiology

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of phaco time and microscopic light exposure time in patients undergoing phacoemulsification on the development of dry eye. Background Phacoemulsification is a widespread surgery; it may produce some sort of dryness. We aimed to study whether phaco time and microscopic light exposure time can cause eye dryness or not. Patients and methods A prospective consecutive observational nonrandomized study was carried out on 40 eyes without preoperative dry eye. Lissamine green staining of cornea and conjunctiva, tear break-up time, tear meniscus height, Schirmer's test I, and Schirmer's test II were performed immediately before the surgery and at 1 day, 7 days, 1 month, and 2 months after phacoemulsification surgery, followed by assessment of subjective symptoms. The correlation between these values with the phaco time and the microscopic light exposure time was determined. Results There was an increase in subjective symptoms and a marked decrease in the dry eye test values after phacoemulsification surgery. Non significant correlations were found between phaco time and microscopic light exposure time at one hand and dry eye test values at the other hand. Postoperative dry eye test values started to improve 1 month after surgery reaching preoperative values 2 months after surgery. For example the average preoperative Schirmer test I was 17.4 ± 6.11 m; after 1 month, it decreased to 9.23 ± 6.26 m and started to increase at 2 months to 12.30 ± 5.49 m. The preoperative Schirmer test II was 13.5 ± 5.1 m; after 1 month, it decreased to 6.2 ± 3 m and then started to increase at 2 months to 9.3 ± 4 m. Conclusion The surgeon should know that more phaco time can produce dry eye. Exposure to the light of the microscope should be decreased.

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