Investigation of visual acuity and residual refractive error after cataract surgery in patients with senile cataract by phacoemulsification

Vision improvement and reduction of refractive errors are considered as important goals of cataract surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate residual refractive errors after cataract surgery in the patients with senile cataract in Shahid Rahimi Hospital in Khorramabad City between 2017 and 2018.

This cross-sectional study included 178 patients. Visual acuity, refractive errors and biometry of 192 eyes with senile cataract were evaluated before and one month after surgery. Refractive error and biometry measurements were performed with an autorefractometer and IOL master, respectively. SRK/T formula was used for IOL power calculation. We used paired T-test for analysis of data with normal distribution and non-parametric Wilcoxon test for the rest of data. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The mean equivalent spherical refraction decreased from -0.7 ±0.22 before surgery to -0.04 ±0.06 after surgery (P≤0.001). Before and after surgery ,the mean values for corrected visual acuity were 0.42±0.01 D and 0.91±0.01 D (P≤0.0001) and the mean values for axial length of the eyes were 23.13±0.05 and 23.07±0.05, respectively (P≤0.001). The mean values for anterior chamber depth of the eyes was 3.07±0.02 mm before the surgery which changed to 3.73 ±0.03 mm after the surgery (P≤0.0001).  

The results showed that refractive errors (%86) after cataract surgery were within acceptable range (±1.00 D) and the best corrected visual acuity was better than 0.5