Grooved and nongrooved clear corneal incisions in phacoemulsification: permeability study

Purpose: To detect the inflow of trypan blue through grooved and nongrooved sutureless self-sealing clear corneal incisions at the end of phacoemulsification as compared to a control group. Methods: A prospective randomized masked trial considered 52 eyes randomized into 3 groups in which phacoemulsification was performed: group A, nongrooved incisions; group B, grooved incisions; and group C, controls. By the end of each surgery, trypan blue was instilled on the ocular surface in groups A and B and rinsed out after 2 minutes. A sample of the anterior chamber content was collected and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography to identify and quantify the trypan blue concentration. The presence of trypan blue was expressed as a specific single peak graphic image. The mean areas of these peaks were used to assess the groups using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the nongrooved incisions group and the control group (p = 0.0448). No significant difference was observed between group B (grooved incision) and controls (p = 0.1800). Conclusions: Trypan blue was detected in the anterior chamber when nongrooved clear corneal incision was used. There was no trypan blue detection in the group with grooved clear corneal main incisions.