Patients with glaucoma are more likely to end up with postoperative refractive surprises after cataract surgery. Photo: Justin Cole, OD, and Jarett Mazzarella, OD

Patients with glaucoma are more likely to end up with postoperative refractive surprises after cataract surgery, according to research presented at the 2020 ARVO meeting in Denver. The researchers investigated one-month post-cataract refractive outcomes in glaucoma patients and non-glaucoma patients without visually significant comorbidities.

The retrospective cohort study included the first eye of 503 patients (354 without glaucoma and 149 with glaucoma). The researchers wrote in their abstract that 67.8% and 95.2% of control subjects fell within 0.5D and 1D of the target compared with 65.7% and 89.9% of glaucoma subjects, respectively. This comparison was significant for eyes within 1D of the target. Additionally, the researchers compared refractive outcomes between glaucoma types and noted no significant differences in the percentages of patients within 0.5D and 1D of the target.

As the study excluded patients with visually significant comorbidities, the researchers concluded that glaucoma likely plays a role in refractive outcomes that isn’t currently accounted for by intraocular lens calculations. Notably, they wrote that the increase in refractive surprise appears to occur regardless of glaucoma type.

Original abstract content © Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2022.

Huang J, Rajanala A, Tsukikawa M, et al. Increased post-cataract surgery refractive surprise in glaucoma patients. ARVO 2022 annual meeting.