The outcome of congenital cataract surgery in Kuwait

Congenital cataract is the most common cause of treatable blindness in children and the outcome of congenital cataract surgery has not been studied in Kuwait, so the purpose of this study is to evaluate the visual outcome and the postoperative complications.

Medical records of children who underwent congenital cataract surgery between September 2000 and December 2008 at Al-Bahar Eye Center, Ministry of Health of Kuwait were retrospectively reviewed. In 100 eyes that fill the inclusion criteria visual acuity and postoperative complications were recorded. The mean follow up was 3.9 ± 1.7 years with range from 3 to 6 years.

The mean age of congenital/developmental cataract surgery is 8.9 ± 8.7 months for bilateral cases and it was 5.75 ± 4.61 months for unilateral cases. The mean final postoperative BCVA in unilateral cases was 1.0 (20/200) log MAR unit and it was 0.3 (20/40) log MAR unit for the bilateral cases. Four percent of the cases developed postoperative glaucoma and 2% of them developed significant opacification of the posterior capsule.

Our findings provide evidence of recent improvement over time in the visual prognosis in bilateral, and to a lesser degree, unilateral cataract, in children in Kuwait.