OUTCOME OF CATARACT SURGERY IN CHILDREN

Objectives: To evaluate the management and visual outcome of cataract surgery in children. Study design: Descriptive. Material and Methods: This study included one hundred pediatric patients having cataracts over a periodof two year, from Is' January 2005 to 31 st December 2006, at the Department of Ophthalmology, SaiduTeaching Hospital, Saidu Sharif, Swat. Results: Age range was fourteen years and below. Sixty five (65%) patients were males and thirty five (35%) females. Sixty three (63%) patients had congenital or developmental cataracts and thirty seven (37%) had traumatic cataracts. Extracapsular cataract extraction (aspiration) was performed on 150 eyes. Postoperative visual acuity was recordable in 112 eyes. Acorrected visual acuity of 6/18 or better was obtained in50 (44.64%) eyes. Forty one (36.6%) eyes obtained visual acuity of 6/24 to 6/60, while in 21 (18.75%) eyesthe visual acuity remained below 6/60. The most common postoperative complication was development ofthick posterior capsule, which occurred in 51 (34%) eyes and vitreous loss in 10 (6.6%) eyes. Pupil blockglaucoma developed in 4 (2.66%) eyes. No case developed endophthalmitis. Posterior chamber IOL wasimplanted in 9 (6%) eyes. Conclusions: Management of cataracts in children is still a problem and delayed presentation leads to poorvisual outcome. The public should be educated to seek early treatment for childhood cataracts. Paramedicsand doctors should be made aware of the problem and its management. Management of unilateral cataractsis still a difficult problem. Therefore search should continue for better surgical approach and better methodsof correction of aphakia so as to achieve better visual outcome. Key words: Childhood Cataracts, Congenital Cataracts and Traumatic Cataracts.