Bilateral cataract surgery: a controlled clinical trial.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery with respect to patient satisfaction, outcomes, and complication rates.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective study of consecutive patients who had simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery on the same day or separate bilateral cataract surgery with an interval of 2 days between operations. The changes in refraction, visual acuity, degree of anisometropia, and complication rates were compared between the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and separate bilateral cataract surgery groups. Patient satisfaction was assessed with a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Ninety-four patients who had simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and 100 patients who had separate bilateral cataract surgery were enrolled in this study. The preoperative best-corrected visual acuity (logMAR) was 0.31 +/- 0.17 in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and 0.29 +/- 0.16 in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group, and it improved postoperatively to 0.11 +/- 0.12 in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and to 0.10 +/- 0.11 in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.061). In addition, 96.8% of eyes in the simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery group and 97.0% of eyes in the separate bilateral cataract surgery group were within 1.0 diopters of the mean absolute error, and there were no sight-threatening intraoperative or postoperative complications in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery may be an effective and safe bilateral cataract surgery option with a high degree of patient satisfaction.