[Phacoemulsification. The method of choice in cataract surgery]

Complications and problems in the first 300 patients operated on by phacoemulsification technique are described. In the first 100 cases the procedure began with the creation of the corneoscleral incision and the anterior capsule was opened in a "can opener" fashion. In the second group of 200 patients we preferred the scleral incision, and the anterior capsule was opened mainly by capsulorhexis. The phacoemulsification was predominantly performed in the capsular bag or in the iris plane. The wound was closed with interrupted sutures. The most common and the most serious complication as well in the first 100 cases was posterior capsule rupture (11%). Then the percentage of this most common complication was diminished significantly with increasing experience of the surgeon (2.5% in 200 cases). The same problems which the authors had in their first operations appeared again, though in a smaller amount as soon as they started to work with phacoemulsification as a method of choice of cataract surgery.