[Preoperative disinfection of the conjunctiva with PVP-iodine].

Preoperative treatment with topically applied antibiotics does not always sufficiently reduce the bacterial flora of the conjunctival sac. Therefore, an additional disinfection procedure should be employed. Fifty-two eyes showing bacterial growth in the first conjunctical smear were treated with two drops of half-strength povidone-iodine solution (5%). Within 2 min 45 eyes showed an obvious reduction in bacteria; after an incubation time of 48 h, 26 eyes showed no bacterial growth at all. The colony counts of the remaining smears revealed a decrease factor of between 10 and 10(4). The average number of species was reduced from 2.15 to 0.63. To exclude the possibility that this was merely an irrigation effect caused by the povidone-iodine solution, 30 eyes were treated with two drops of NaCl solution and compared to the other groups. No significant decrease in colonies or species was observed. Povidone-iodine solution applied to more than 500 eyes undergoing vitreoretinal surgery caused no allergic reactions or corneal changes.