Incidence of posttrabeculectomy cataract among Arabs in Kuwait

Trabeculectomy was performed in 466 glaucomatous eyes of 342 patients. Of these eyes, 54% appeared to have lens opacities. However, 35% of these cases had the cataract preoperatively and in 19% the cataractous changes appeared to develop postoperatively. The risk of development of posttrabeculectomy cataract seemed to increase with patient age. In addition, our results show that 51% of the patients developing a postoperative cataract had hypotony with a flat anterior chamber, 24.4% had hyphema and 20% had uveitis. Our findings suggest that the main risk factors involved in the posttrabeculectomy development of cataract are age, hypotony, hyphema, uveitis and probably minor trauma to the lens by continuous circulation of the aqueous humor through the surgical fistula.