Purpose:

To evaluate and standardize the important facts and surgical characteristics of phacoemulsification procedure in patients with posterior polar cataracts.

Materials and Method:

25 eyes of 20 patients who had posterior polar cataracts and been performed cataract surgery with phacoemulsification in SSK Istanbul Education Hospital between the months March 2001 and March 2002 were included to this study.

Results:

The mean follow up period was 4 weeks(between 1 week and 7 weeks). All cases had the standard phacoemulsification cataract surgery by the same surgeon (KE).4 cases had developed posterior capsule rupture intraoperatively(16%) and all of them happened to be in the phase of irrigation and aspiration. Within these 4 cases;3 of them(12%) had IOL implantation to the sulcus and 1 of them(4%) had an anterior chamber IOL implanted. The post operative corrected visual accuities of all cases were between 0.3 and 1.0, the mean of which was 0.62+/-0.29.

Conclusion:

Posterior polar cataracts are known to be one of the major predispozing factors for intra operative posterior capsule rupture but the risk of complication can be minimized and satisfactory results can be achieved with careful surgical planning.

Keywords: Posterior polar cataract,posterior capsule rupture