Long term intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering effect of Femtosecond Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery (FLACS) versus conventional phacoemulsification (PE)

Abstract

This is a retrospective cohort study of 244 otherwise healthy eyes (from 244 patients) undergoing cataract surgery. Patients were followed postoperatively at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 months for IOP measurement. Combination procedures and glaucomatous eyes were excluded. 147 eyes underwent conventional phacoemulsification and 97 underwent FLACS. Amongst eyes undergoing FLACS, we observed 1.42 mmHg crude decrease in postoperative IOP from baseline over 3 years of follow-up (p = 0.003). Amongst eyes undergoing conventional phacoemulsification, we observed 1.18 mmHg crude decrease in postoperative IOP from baseline over 3 years of follow-up (p = 0.003). Amongst non-Caucasian patients, eyes undergoing FLACS had 1.90-3.38 mmHg lower postoperative IOP compared to eyes undergoing conventional phacoemulsification (ps = 0.04-0.009). Our study showed that in non-Caucasian patients who were followed for an average of 22 months, the postoperative IOP was significantly lower in eyes that underwent FLACS compared to eyes that underwent conventional phacoemulsification.