CATARACT SURGERY

Objective: To investigate the course of intraocular pressure after cataract surgery in patients havingpseudo exfoliation syndrome but without any evidence of glaucoma. Design: Prospective age-matched comparativetype. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Ophthalmology, Combined Military Hospital, Peshawar and MilitaryHospital, Rawalpindi. From 1 November 2003 to 30 April st th 2004. Patients and Methods: Ninety five patients havingcataract, were divided into two groups. Group I consisted of forty five patients with pseudo exfoliation syndrome andGroup II comprised control group of fifty patients not having pseudo exfoliation. All the patients underwent extracapsularcataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation. The intra- ocular pressure wasmeasured pre-operatively as well as on 7th post-operative day, 1st and 3rd post-operative months, in addition to otherpre- and post-operative evaluation. Results: Statistically, there was no significant difference in the pre-operativeintraocular pressure between the two study groups. At 7th post-operative day, the intraocular pressure was below 18mm of Hg in all the patients. First and 3rd month after the surgery, a decrease in intraocular pressure was observed.The inter-group differences in intraocular pressures at 1st and 3rd post-operative months were statistically not significant.Conclusion: Seven days after extra-capsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation,no increase in intraocular pressure was observed in the eyes with pseudo exfoliation syndrome. Three months aftercataract surgery, intraocular pressure levels decreased in eyes with pseudo exfoliation syndrome similarly as in controlgroup.