Operation for Cataract: Closure of the Wound. Frequency of Complications with Different Methods of Extraction

OPERATION for cataract-which has already reached a high standard -is still not entirely free from danger, the elimination of which would be an important achievement.Only clinical experience can furnish us with the knowledge necessary for further improvement.A statistical survey of a large number of cases should provide us with a sound critical basis, and may indicate the direction for further improvement in technique.Furthermore, observation of patients over a long period may shed light on the circumstances in which complications occur, and may indicate the measures requisite for their prevention.Complications and their treatment are of the utmost importance, not only because they increase the difficulties and anxieties of the surgeon, but chiefly because the outcome of the complications plays a part in the final result of the operation.This review is based upon 650 cataract operations which were performed in the Ophthalmic Department of the Jewish Hospital in Budapest, between 1933-1938.Of these 650 operations 265 were upon men and 385 upon women.The age of the patients varied from 25 to 91 years.Details are given in Table I.