Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence, natural course, and distribution pattern of superficial punctate keratopathy and describe the changes in signs and symptoms of dry eye after cataract surgery.
Setting: The setting of this study is University Hospital Rio Hortega and Instituto Universitario de Oftalmobiología Aplicada, Valladolid, Spain.
Design: This is a prospective interventional study.
Materials and methods: In total, 55 eyes of 55 different patients with no history of dry eye underwent standard phacoemulsification through a 2.75-mm-wide corneal incision. We measured tear break-up time, Schirmer test I, and tear meniscus height, and recorded the Ocular Surface Disease Index score, fluorescein staining patterns, and photo documentation of the ocular surface before and 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month postoperatively. Patients were divided into two groups (with and without superficial punctate keratopathy development, 1 day postoperatively).
Results: Patients (mean age: 75.75 ± 7.27 years) showed an incidence of 76.3% of superficial punctate keratopathy at 24 h. Location predominated in the center of the cornea until a week (32.7%) and then began to prevail in the inferior quadrant (21.8%) at 1 month. All dry eye tests were significantly worse after surgery. Ocular Surface Disease Index increased from 10.98 ± 5.05 to 15.87 ± 6.57 at 24 h (p < .001), to 12.80 ± 5.77 at 7 days (p < .001), and to 11.09 ± 4.63 at 1 month (p = .90). Fluorescein staining patterns got worse 24 h postoperatively with a score of 2.12 using the National Eye Institute/Industry-recommended guidelines staining grid. Average break-up time values were significantly lower at 1 day (6.61 ± 2.68),1 week (6.98 ± 2.79), and 1 month (7.05 ± 2.86) postoperatively than preoperatively (8.78 ± 2.97) (p < .001). The mean postoperative first month Schirmer test I value (8.32 ± 3.58) was significantly lower than preoperative value (9.05 ± 3.63) (p < .001).
Conclusion: Phacoemulsification tends to induce short-term transitory ocular surface impairment manifesting as both signs and symptoms. Superficial punctate keratopathy distribution has a characteristic pattern evolution according to the postoperative time. Those patients with altered preoperative values are more likely to develop ocular surface disease and for longer time.
Keywords: Cataract surgery; phacoemulsification; punctate keratopathy.