[Effect of mydriasis and cycloplegia on close-range visual acuity in pseudophakia]

We have studied 21 eyes of 17 patients which underwent 3 Months before a standard extracapsular cataract extraction and implantation into the sulcus of a posterior chamber lens. All the eyes had a final uncorrected far and near vision of 0.4 (20/50) or better. We have measured the uncorrected near vision before and after pupillary dilatation with 5% phenylephrine. Then, after additional 0.5% cyclopentolate induced cyclopegia, near vision was evaluated again. Our results show a statistically significant decrease in the uncorrected near vision after pupillary dilatation (p less than 0.001). On the contrary additional cyclopegia does not significantly reduce the uncorrected near vision (p greater than 0.08). Our observations confirm the importance of unimpaired pupillary movement as regards best possible uncorrected near vision in pseudophakic patients. The activity of the ciliary muscle does not seem to mainly contribute to the phenomenon of pseudoaccommodation.