EFFECT OF INCISION SIZE ON EARLY POSTOPERATIVE VISUAL REHABILITATION AFTER CATARACT-SURGERY AND INTRAOCULAR-LENS IMPLANTATION

One hundred fifty-one unilateral cataract patients were randomly assig ned to receive either a one-piece Staar AA-4203 silicone intraocular l ens inserted through a 3.5 mm incision, an Ioptex 5 mm x 6 mm oval opt ic lens inserted through a 5.5 mm incision, or an AMO three-piece modi fied C-loop 6.0 round optic poly(methyl methacrylate) lens inserted th rough a 6.5 mm incision. Follow-up was 97% at two days postoperatively and 84% at one week and two months postoperatively. At one week posto peratively, 62% of 3.5 mm incision cases had uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better compared with 33% of 5.5 mm (P < .01) and 43% of 6 .5 mm incision cases. At two months postoperatively, 85% of 3.5 mm inc ision cases had uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better compared with 64% of 6.5 mm (P <.05) and 71 % of 5.5 mm incision cases. The 3.5 mm incision cases had significantly less total keratometric cylinder than other cases at all postoperative examinations (P less-than-or-equ al-to .001) and less surgically induced cylinder at two days and one w eek postoperatively (P less-than-or-equal-to .02). The 5.5 mm and 6.5 mm incision cases did not differ significantly in visual acuity or ast igmatism at any examination.