Ocufen and pupillary dilation during cataract surgery.

A random, masked prospective study was performed on 100 patients having elective extracapsular cataract extraction to evaluate the ability of Ocufen (flurbiprofen) to maintain dilation of the pupil. All the patients received a standard dilating regimen; half also received Ocufen drops. Surgery was recorded with a video camera attached to the operating microscope. Magnification was kept constant. Pupil diameters were measured on a calibrated video screen at four different stages of the operation: at the beginning, post-capsulotomy, post-nucleus delivery, and at the end. The age, sex, and iris color of each patient were recorded. Preoperative pupillary diameters were not statistically different between the control and Ocufen groups. The Ocufen-treated group maintained pupillary dilation better on the average and had a much smaller incidence of pupil constriction greater than 2 mm.