POST OPERATIVE ABRASION

Very rarely a patient might get a corneal abrasion after cataract surgery. This can come either from a rupture of a bullous keratopathy (which looks like a blister from inflammation that occurs under the outer epithelial layer), or from the eye opening under a pressure patch and being scratched by the patch.


The above photo is the normal left eye with dye in the eye, to stain the tears.

Here's the abrasion in the right eye the evening of surgery. The patient was in a lot of pain. We put antibiotic ointment in the eye and pressure patched the eye.

This is the corneal abrasion the day after surgery. You can see the edges well demarcated. At this point we used a pressure patch, had the patient take antiobiotic drops four times a day, and kept the steroid at a low dose to help with post-op inflammation, without inhibiting wound healing. A delicate balance.

The above photo is 4 days after surgery. The epithelium has grown over the abrasion and the edges are now fusing together. The patient will feel a foreign body sensation until this is totally healed. It may take about a week or so until it heals completely, during which time the vision will be blurry. But ultimately this patient will see just as well as if the abrasion never occurred.