Impact of anterior capsule polishing on anterior capsule opacification after cataract surgery: a randomized clinical trial

Aims To evaluate the effect of anterior capsule polishing on the development of anterior capsule opacification (ACO) in patients undergoing cataract surgery. Methods This prospective randomized observational double-masked clinical trial comprised 120 eyes of 60 consecutive patients with bilateral age-related cataract who underwent phacoemulsification. The patients were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: One eye received a 360 degree anterior capsule polishing (group 1 (cases)) and the fellow eye was without anterior capsule polishing (group 2 (controls)) The primary observation was to observe the development of ACO between the 2 groups, whereas the secondary observation was to measure uveal inflammation. ACO was evaluated at 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months. Results At the 1-week follow-up, there was no significant difference in the development of ACO between the two groups. At 1 month, 54 (90%) eyes developed ACO in controls and 26 (43.3%) eyes in cases (P<0.001). However, at 6 months, there was no significant difference in the development of ACO between controls and cases (P = 0.500). The odds of having cells and flare were significantly more in cases compared with controls at first postoperative day (cells: OR, 39.27; 95% CI, 13.49-114.26 and flare: OR, 48.0; 95% CI, 15.57-147.97). Conclusions ACO was significantly lower at 1 month in cases compared with controls. However, the difference in ACO between the two groups was insignificant at 6 months. A significant difference in anterior segment inflammation was documented in cases on the first postoperative day. There was no detectable benefit of performing scraping on the anterior capsule to avoid opacification after phacoemulsification. Eye (2009) 23, 1702-1706; doi: 10.1038/eye.2008.355; published online 12 December 2008