CONTINUED BREAKDOWN OF THE BLOOD AQUEOUS BARRIER FOLLOWING CATARACT-SURGERY

Following routine extracapsular cataract and posterior chamber implant surgery, recovery of the blood aqueous barrier (BAB) was quantified by sequential anterior chamber fluorophotometry. This was correlated with surgical details and postoperative findings to ascertain those factors which were related to excessive damage of the BAB immediately after surgery and to failure to recover a normal BAB by 3 months postoperatively. A cohort of 84 patients was followed. In the early post-operative period excessive levels of damage to the BAB were related to iris damage (p<0.01) and diabetes mellitus (p<0.01). By 3 months, 79% of the eyes had recovered normal BABs and 21% (18 eyes) had persisting excessive fluorescence which correlated with an abnormal pupil shape (p<0.02) and the development of posterior synechiae (p<0.001).