Background: To evaluate topical anaesthesia for cataract surgery.
Methods: Thirty-nine patients (40 eyes) underwent cataract surgery by phacoemulsification with topical anaesthesia consisting in instillations of tetracaine eyedrops. Thirty-four eyes were implanted with a foldable lens and 6 eyes received a PMMA lens. Final visual acuity (1 month minimum follow-up), patients reactions (sensibility, pain), anaesthetic and surgery difficulties were specially studied.
Results: Mean initial corrected visual acuity was 0.21. Mean final corrected visual acuity was 0.72; 90 % of the subjects experienced no pain. Implantation was the most sensitive moment. Eye mobility was not a problem except during capsulhorexis which had to be done with forceps.
Conclusion: Simplicity of topical anaesthesia eliminates the complications of the other anaesthetic methods. It is necessary to have a close patient-surgeon relationship. Carefully chosen topical anaesthesia is an interesting alternative.