Pain And Anxiety In Patients Undergoing Phacoemulsification Under Local Anaesthesia: First And Second Eye Surgery Comparison

Evaluation of pain and anxiety in patients undergoing bilateral senile cataract surgery at different times under local anaesthesia.

Prospective study, Yozgat City Hospital, Türkiye.

In this prospective study, 98 patients who underwent bilateral uneventful cataract surgery, had no additional systemic disease and did not use systemic analgesia were included. Anxiety, blood pressure and heart rate were assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAS), and pain status was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Wong Baker Facial Pain Expression Scale (WBFAPES) at the end of surgery. Patient co-operation and compliance were evaluated at the end of the operation with a score between 0 (very poor compliance) and 3 (excellent compliance).

The mean age of the patients was 62.6 ± 12.5 years and 64 (65%) were male. The interval between two eye surgeries was 1.2 (1-3) months. VAS score was 2.4 ± 1.8 and WBFAPES score was 2.2 ± 1.6 in the first eye surgery, while VAS score was 4.2 ± 1.4 and WBVAS score was 4.6 ± 1.5 in the second eye surgery. Pain scores were statistically significantly higher in second eye surgery (p<0.05 for all values). STAS score was 36.4 ± 15.7 in the first eye surgery and 26.8 ± 11.9 in the second eye surgery (p<0.05). Patient co-operation and compliance was 2.8 ± 0.7 in the first eye surgery and 2.4 ± 0.9 in the second eye surgery (p>0.05).

In cataract patients, more pain in second eye surgery may be associated with less anxiety. Therefore, local anaesthetics in second eye surgery should be used in the light of this information and patients should be informed in detail about pain before surgery.