Abstract
Aims
This study assessed the effectiveness of one vs two applications of povidone-iodine in decontaminating the eye before cataract surgery.
Methods
This was a prospective, interventional study of 52 patients having elective unilateral phacoemulsification cataract surgery in a tertiary care centre. Each patient had two applications of povidone-iodine before phacoemulsification cataract surgery, separated by 10 min. Conjunctival swabs were taken before and after each application and cultured in 5% CO2 and anaerobically. Statistical analysis was performed using McNemar's test for correlated proportions.
Results
In all, 15 of 52 (29%) patients had positive cultures before the first application and 21 of 52 (40%) patients had positive cultures after it. This was not statistically significant (P=0.239). A total of 25 of 52 (48%) patients were culture positive before the second application. This was not statistically significantly different from 10 min earlier (P=0.423). Six of 52 (12%) patients were positive after the second application (P<0.001).
Conclusions
We conclude that the initial application of povidone-iodine was not effective in decontaminating the eye. Recontamination did not take place between applications. The difference in the proportion of patients with positive results before and after the second application of povidone-iodine was statistically significant. We infer from this that double application of povidone-iodine before cataract surgery is advisable.
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Change history
10 November 2011
This article has been corrected since Advance Online Publication and a corrigendum is also printed in this issue
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Neil Gehling for technical support. This study was supported by funding from the Department of Ophthalmology at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville South, South Australia, Australia.
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The abstract was presented as a ‘Rapid Fire’ presentation at the 40th Annual Scientific Congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists on Monday 24 November 2008.
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Stranz, C., Fraenkel, G., Butcher, A. et al. Survival of bacteria on the ocular surface following double application of povidone-iodine before cataract surgery. Eye 25, 1423–1428 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2011.182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2011.182
