Clinical Outcomes of Applying Therapeutic Contact Lenses and Eye Drops after Cataract Surgery

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the safety of applying therapeutic contact lenses and eye drops after cataract surgery.Methods: Immediately after cataract surgery, 947 eyes (group 1) used therapeutic contact lenses and eye drops and 914 (group 2) applied antibiotic ointment and wore a gauze eye patch for the first postoperative day. Clinical outcomes including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), IOP, degree of anterior chamber inflammation, wound leakage, and postoperative endophthalmitis were compared in the two groups 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after surgery.Results: There were no significant differences in the mean pre- and postoperative BCVA and IOP at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month between groups 1 and 2. There was no difference in anterior chamber inflammation between the two groups at 1 day (p = 0.302), 1 week (p = 0.437), or 1 month (p = 0.960) after surgery. On the first postoperative day, 10 eyes in group 1 and nine eyes in group 2 had wound leakage (p = 1.000). There was no endophthalmitis in either group.Conclusions: The risk of postoperative complications in group 1 was not higher than in group 2. Therefore, wearing therapeutic contact lenses and using eye drops is a relatively safe management method after cataract surgery.