Economic evaluation of cataract surgery: a comparison between IOL and non-IOL techniques.

Using a sample of 116 patients, 53 of whom had undergone cataract extraction without IOL implantation, and 63 of whom had been treated by IOL implantation, a retrospective evaluation of differences in economic effects was performed. The use of non-IOL technique was cheaper for the hospital, but the overall costs for society were soon higher, mainly as a result of the significantly higher costs of obtaining contact lenses and spectacles in the non-IOL group. The longer we expect cataract surgery patients to live post-operatively the greater will be the difference in favour of using the IOL technique. The estimated annual savings to society for every 875 patients operated would be from FIM 5 million to FIM 26.5 million if non-IOL technique was used and from FIM 10.5 million to FIM 28.5 million with IOL surgery. Cataract surgery, and especially with IOL technique, seems to be an operation resulting in substantial savings to society.