Purpose: The aim of the study was to estimate changes in bacterial flora of conjunctival sac changes in patients prophylacticaly treated with different antibiotics (chloramphenicol, gentamycin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin) before cataract operation.
Material and methods: The studied group consisted of 166 patients hospitalized for cataract surgery. The control group consisted of 33 persons, neither treated topically with antimicrobial drugs nor suffering from infectious or inflammatory diseases. On the first day and on the operation day conjunctival swabs were obtained and typical microbiological diagnosis was performed. During hospitalization only one antimicrobial drug was administrated topically (chloramphenicol, gentamycin, ofloxacin or norfloxacin) in the studied group.
Results: Prophylaxis with antibiotics before cataract surgery changes bacterial flora of conjunctival sac: quantitative changes were observed most frequently, but also hospital antibiotic resistant strains were detected. None of tested antibiotics caused total elimination of conjunctival flora in all patients.
Conclusions: None of the antibiotics used in our study could cause total elimination of conjunctival flora. According to our results, the most effective antibiotics in prophylaxis before eye surgery are fluoroquinolones. Some patients before eye surgery have the pathogenetic conjunctival flora not causing the disease, yet increasing the risk of postoperative endophthalmitis.