Preventing Postoperative Infection and Inflammation

Preventing PostoPerative infection Postoperative endophthalmitis is a rare but potentially devastating complication of cataract surgery. The incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis is small and most recent studies have found that in the United States, the rate is approximately 0.07%. With an ever-aging population, the number of patients requiring cataract surgery is growing each year. Therefore, potential cases of postoperative endophthalmitis will increase in the future. Given the potential for a poor visual outcome following endophthalmitis, it is critically important that all possible methods for the prevention of endophthalmitis be employed. These methods of prophylaxis include preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative techniques and medications that will help lower the overall incidence of endophthalmitis.