Intraocular Pressure After Small Incision Cataract Surgery with Two Different Viscoelastic Agents

Viscoelastic agents are used widely in ophthalmic surgery. This study was designed to assess the effect of Healon (sodium hyaluronate 1%) and Coatel (Hydroxymethylpropylcellulose 2%) on intraocular pressure (IOP) after small incision of cataract surgery.
In a prospective randomized clinical trial, 87 eyes of 87 patients with senile cataract from Nikookari Ophthalmology Center of Tabriz, underwent small incision cataract surgery with phacoemulsification and randomly assigned to receive Healon or Coatel. IOP was measured preoperatively, 24 hours, 3 days and 1 month after surgery and postoperative values were compared with preoperative ones.
In each group mean of 3 postoperative IOPs were compared with preoperative values and a significant difference was found in two groups (p = 0.013 for Healon and p = 0.004 for Coatel). After 20-24 hours, mean IOP in Healon group increased significantly (p = 0.047) but in Coatel group there was no significant change (p = 0.56).
Three days and also one month after surgery, mean IOP in two groups reduced significantly to lower values of baseline (p<0.001 in either group).
According to our results, there was no significant difference between the mean postoperative IOPs using two different viscoelastic agents and they were similar in effectiveness. It seems that complete removal of viscoelastic substances from anterior chamber, behind the intraocular lens (IOL), posterior chamber and enough washout time reduced the incidence of ocular hypertension in postoperative period.