Perioperative visual changes

The goal of this project was to describe the frequency and natural history of perioperative changes in vision.

The authors performed a prospective evaluation of changes in visual accommodation and acuity in adult patients undergoing various surgical procedures. Patients were evaluated preoperatively and at 1 and 3 days postoperatively. For patients who had persistent blurring of vision on the third postoperative day, surveillance was extended to 1.5 yr to determine how long the visual changes persisted and if the patients required eye-care provider attention for the condition.

Twenty-eight of 671 patients (4.2%) reported new onset of blurred vision lasting at least 3 days after surgery. Seven of these 28 patients (1% of total) required either new corrective lens or changes in eyeglass or contact prescriptions because of persistent blurry vision. Most of the remaining patients reported resolution of blurry vision within 1 to 2 months. No significant risk factors for this problem were identified.

In this surgical population, changes in visual acuity manifest primarily by blurred vision were reported at a surprisingly high frequency. For many of these patients, the blurring resolved within 2 months without complication, but 25% of patients who had blurred vision for 3 days or longer required visits to eye-care providers and either new corrective lens or changes in existing prescriptions.