Endothelial Cell Loss and Induced Astigmatism After Wound-directed and Wound-assisted IOL Injection

Cataract surgery (removal of a cloudy lens) is currently performed through increasingly smaller incisions. Bimanual surgery, where two instruments are used to remove the lens, is performed through two 1.4 mm incisions. Typically, one of these incisions is enlarged to 2.2 or 2.4 mm in order that the IOL (artificial lens) can be inserted into the eye. Surgeons insert these lenses by placing a lens injector cartridge completely into the eye (wound-directed insertion) or by placing only the tip inside the incision (wound-assisted insertion). While wound-assisted insertion can be performed through slightly smaller incisions (2.2 mm versus 2.4 mm for wound-directed insertion), both methods of insertion cause some incision enlargement. There is some evidence that wound-assisted insertion can cause very short-term pressure within the eye to go up. Neither method is considered inferior or superior to the other, and the primary investigator (Dr. Kenneth Cohen) routinely uses both methods.

No studies have directly compared wound-healing characteristics between these two methods. We seek to compare differences in:

• Surgically-induced astigmatism (changes in the corneal curvature from cataract surgery incisions.
• Endothelial cell density loss. Endothelial cells line the inside surface of the cornea, and their overall density can be decreased by cataract surgery.
• Best-corrected vision after surgery
• Sizes of the incisions after lens injection

Inclusion criteria

• Eligible patients include those who undergo uncomplicated cataract extraction surgery and IOL implantation by KLC.

Exclusion criteria

Patients who:

• suffer from diabetes and have more than mild background diabetic retinopathy,
• have a history of intraocular surgery,
• have a history of ocular trauma,
• have known pathology of the cornea,
• have a history of intraocular inflammation,
• are unable to understand English,
• are decisionally impaired,
• are currently incarcerated, or
• are less than 18 years of age.

No exclusions will be made on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or race.