Tear Film Changes after Phacoemulsification

Objective To evaluate tear film changes after Phacoemulsification in the patients with diabetics.Methods This randomized study involved 25 patients(28 eyes) with diabetes cataract and 20 patients with cataract who underwent Phacoemulsification.Tear break-up time(BUT),Schirmer I test(SIt) value and corneal fluorescein staining were measured preoperatively and 1 day and 3,7,30,90 days postoperatively.Results At 1 day and 3 and 7 days postoperatively,the subjective complains of dry eye,the mean SIt and fluorescein staining scores increased significantly,and the mean BUT decreased significantly(P0.01 for normal group,P0.05 for diabetes group).The BUT and Sit recovered at 30 and 90 days postoperatively.15% of patients in normal group showed shorter BUT and 38.09% of patients in diabetes group showed BUT instability postoperatively.In addition,the mean BUT of diabetes group was less than that of normal group preoperatively and 30 and 90 days postoperatively(P0.001).The score of corneal fluorescein staining of diabetes group was higher than that of normal group.Conclusions Phacoemulsification reduces the stability of tear film of diabetes patients.Preventions should be taken,like artificial tears.