Premature elevated intraocular pressure after cataract surgery

We evaluated the frequency of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) the first 1-3 postoperative days for a group of patients undergoing standard or phacoemulsification extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE). IOP was measured in the pre and postoperative period using non-contact tonometer. From the 356 operated patients, 21 patients (6%) had early elevated IOP. The frequency of elevated IOP was greater among the patients that received anterior chamber (AC) IOL (25%) as compared to that of patients that received posterior chamber (PC) IOL (5.5%). The viscoelastic substance was responsible for a great percentage of cases (51%). The results show that the majority of elevated IOP is transient, recovered spontaneously or by treatment with carbonic anhydrase inhibitors or beta-adrenergic blockers. Elevated postoperative IOP occurs more frequently in the presence of glaucoma, cataract associated with systemic diseases, in complicated and traumatic cataract.