IMMEDIATE VISUAL CAPABILITY AFTER CATARACT-SURGERY - TOPICAL VERSUS RETROBULBAR ANESTHESIA

This study evaluated vision immediately after surgery in 56 consecutiv e patients (31 who had topical anesthesia and 25 who had retrobulbar a nesthesia) for cataract extraction by phacoemulsification and intraocu lar lens implantation. An unbiased, trained nurse measured uncorrected and best corrected visual acuities one hour, one day, and one week af ter surgery. One hour after surgery, patients in the topical anesthesi a group had significantly better visual acuity than those in the retro bulbar anesthesia group. One day and one week after surgery there was no difference between the groups in visual acuity. In the topical anes thesia patients, there were no complications. In the retrobulbar anest hesia patients, ptosis occurred in 19 patients at one hour, in 4 patie nts at one day, and in 1 patient after one week; diplopia occurred in 13 patients at one hour.