The Incidence of Post Phacoemulsification Surgery Induced Dry Eye Disease in Upper Egypt

BACKGROUND: Dry eye is described as a multifactorial disorder of the tear film that occurs due to excessive tear evaporation or tears insufficiency, and so leads to ocular discomfort sensation and ocular tissue damage with time. OBJECTIVE: To assess the incidence of dry eye disease after uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery in patients with no pre-existed dry eye. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the incidence of dry eye at 100 eyes of 100 patients who underwent uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery, with age more than 45 years old. It is measured by dry eye tests Schirmer 1 and tear break up time. RESULTS: This study showed that 22% of the patients who underwent uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery suffered from dry eye with significant results at 1st week post-operative that improved over time. CONCLUSION: There was a statistically significant drop in the results of the Schirmer test 1 and TBUT post phacoemulsification surgery, but with no clinical significance as they still at the normal range. The tear film assessment results at the 1st week post-operative were out of the normal range with TBUT and were borderline with ST1 in 22% of the patients. These results improved over time to return to the normal values within 12 weeks postoperatively.