Visual Outcome of Cataract Surgery

Purpose: To assess the visu al ou tcom e of cataract su rgery in a tertiary hosp ital in N igeria. Methods: Three hu nd red and seventy eyes (370) that had cataract su rgery in the op hthalm ology d ep artm ent of University of Benin Teaching H osp ital (UBTH ) from Ju ly 2007 to Decem ber 2008 w ere includ ed in the stu d y. Case record s w ere retrieved and d ata from them analysed . The age range w as 4 to 95 years (m ean age 41.1 years). There w ere 181 m ales and 189 fem ales . Senile cataract w as the com m onest (64.6%) typ e, follow ed by trau m atic cataract (13%). Extracapsu lar cataract extraction w ith p osterior cham ber intraocu lar lens (IOL) im p lant (75.4%) w as the com m onest p roced u re, follow ed by ECCE w ith anterior cham ber intraocu lar lens im p lant (11.6%), ECCE w ithou t IOL (4.1%) and intracapsu lar cataract extraction w ith or w ithou t IOL ( 8.9% ). Results: Preoperative visu al acu ity w as less than 3/ 60 in 73.8% and 6/ 18 – 6/ 60 in 4% of the eyes. The best corrected p ostop erative visu al acu ity at 6 w eeks w as 6/ 6 – 6/ 18 (good ou tcom e) in 161 (43.5%) eyes, bord erline in 107(28.9%) and p oor in 73 (19.7%). The best corrected visu al ou tcom e at 6 m onths w as good in 221 (59.7%), bord erline in 59 (15.9%) and p oor in 34 (9.3%) eyes. The visu al ou tcom e w as u nknow n in 56 (15.1%) eyes. Conclusion: The visu al ou tcom e after cataract extraction in this centre is still less than the WH O recom m end ation of 90% for best corrected visual acu ity of 6/ 6-6/ 18 vision. There is the need for biom etry, good p atient selection, p rop er m anagem ent of com p lications and sp ectacle correction of refractive errors in ord er to im p rove visual ou tcom e after cataract extraction. Key w ords: visu al ou tcom e, cataract extraction, intraocu lar lens im p lant