effects of trabeculectomy on cataract formation or progression

purpose: to determine the effect of trabeculectomy (tx) on cataract formation or progression in glaucoma patients. methods: this controlled clinical trial was performed on 82 eyes of 41 consecutive patients older than 50 years with glaucoma. trabeculectomy was indicated only in one of their eyes and iop in the other eye was controlled with medication. the operated eyes were considered as treatment and the fellow eyes were considered as control. the effect of tx on lens opacity was evaluated with 2 criteria: decreased visual acuity (va) and cataract formation or progression based on the locs iii score on slitlamp photography. results: overall, 53.7% of patients were male and 46.3% were female. mean age was 62.5±9.3 years. cataract progression in the treatment group was statistically significant when compared with their preoperative condition according to va, and locs iii photography (p<0.05) and scores (p=0.01). cataract progression in the treatment group was statistically significant compared the fellow eye according to locs iii scores (p<0.05), but was not significant according to locs iii photography (p=0.07). conclusion: trabeculetctomy can induce cataract progression based on visual loss and locs iii photography. mean va seems to be decreased, however not all lens opacities necessarily cause visual loss.