Aim: To determine changes in post-cataract surgery central corneal thickness (CCT) at Lagos University Teaching Hospital by assessing the time it takes for the cornea to return to its preoperative thickness value.
Methods: This study is a prospective, hospital-based open within-patient controlled study with the unoperated eye controlling for the operated one.
Results: Two hundred patients with 400 eyes were analyzed, with bilateral mature cataract in 47.0%. All the patients had manual small incision cataract surgery with posterior chamber intraocular lens implant. There is an increase in mean baseline CCT from 520.6±20.3 μm by 76.9 μm (597.9±30.4 μm) 24 hours after cataract surgery followed by relative reduction in the mean CCT to 555.2±24.7 μm and 525.1±19.7 μm at 2 weeks and 12 weeks, respectively. Increase in mean CCT in the unoperated and contralateral eyes were recorded in this study.
Conclusion: There was a transient increase in corneal thickness following cataract surgery with subsequent decrease to preoperative thickness by 12th and fourth week in the operated and unoperated eyes, respectively. Corneal manipulations during cataract surgery must be minimal to reduce visual rehabilitation time to barest minimum. Postoperative refraction will be better at eighth week to 12th week considering the time it takes for the CCT to return to its stable preoperative values.
Keywords: pachymetry; post-cataract surgery visual rehabilitation; recovery time; unoperated eye.