Assessment of changes in corneal sensitivity and tear film physiology after phacoemulsifcation cataract surgery

Introduction: Dry eye syndrome following cataract surgery is of concern recently. Dry eye produces ocular discomfort and may reduce vision if the tear film becomes chronically unstable and repeatedly breaks up into dry eye spots between the blinks, exposing the corneal and conjunctival epithelium to evaporation. This study aims to assess changes in tear film physiology and corneal sensitivity following phacoemulsification cataract surgery and to see it’s consequences on these two parameters.
Methods: Study was conducted on 110 patients who underwent phacoemulsification cataract surgery for senile cataract. Pre-validated, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used as data collection tool. Study subjects were examined for changes in the corneal sensitivity and tear film physiology one day prior to their surgery and on post-operative days 1, 7, 15, 30 and 90.
Results: Most of our study subjects were females. The mean age was 60.52 ±9.1 years. 12 (10.90%) patients had moderate dryness on POD 7 & POD 15 which improved with time to have only 6 (5.45%) patients with moderate dryness on POD 90. 10 (9.09%) patients developed abnormal TBUT on POD 7 while remaining 100 (90.90%) patients maintained normal TBUT values. 101(91.81%) patients had reduced corneal sensitivity at POD 1 and POD 7. Amongst them, 87 (79.09%) patients regained sensitivity by POD 15, all others regained sensitivity by POD 90.
Conclusion: Dry Eye Syndrome was observed in few patients only in the early post-operative period. There was reduction in corneal sensitivity for initial two weeks of post-operative period which normalized by the end of three months for most of the patients.