Background: To determine the prevalence of outpatient and hospitalization for cataract surgery in Iran. Methods: A random cluster sampling was done in a cross-sectional study on cataract surgeries performed in treatment centers of ophthalmology in Iran between 2000 and 2005. One week of each season was selected randomly and all cataract surgery files of the center were studied. This study reported the prevalence of outpatient surgery and length of hospital stay in all surgeries in Iran between 2000 and 2005. Results: Among 13, 409 studied files on cataract surgery, mean hospitalization time was 0. 79± 0. 82 days, 31. 42% of surgeries were done on an outpatient basis, and 62. 32% were hospitalized for one night. About 4. 45% and 1. 81% were hospitalized for two nights and more, respectively. Hospitalization time after surgery showed no significant difference with sex. Also, There was no significant difference between mean age of inpatients and outpatients (P=0. 08). The most common method used for surgeries was Phaco (52. 33%) and the least was lensectomy (11. 38%). Conclusions: A major proportion of cataract surgeries required hospitalization. Due to the costs of hospitalization in this surgery, the phaco method can play an important role in reducing the costs of treatment.

Several aspects of cataract surgery in children differ from adults. Ocular anatomy, cataract morphology, exaggerated response to surgical trauma, and the need for amblyopia therapy are major concerns in pediatric cataract surgery. Moreover, intraoperative differences such as location and type of incisions, management of anterior and posterior capsules and need for anterior vitrectomy are other important issues to be considered. Achieving a successful result depends on adhering to all the pre-, intra- and postoperative considerations and their proper management.

Background: Cataract is an age-related eye disease. Visual impairment from cataract can be restored by cataract surgery. In 2004 the Canadian federal government invested in a multibillion dollar wait time strategy to shorten the wait time for cataract surgery, a government-insured health service in all Canadian jurisdictions. We assessed if this nationwide policy reduced the number of Canadians waiting for cataract surgery as more individuals with cataract were free of cataract following the rapidly conducted surgery. Methods: In this cross-sectional study we analyzed data from randomly selected individuals aged ≥ 45 years responding to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) in 2000/2001, 2003, 2005, and the CCHS Healthy Aging in 2008/2009. Information on cataract was obtained from self-reported questionnaire. The age-and sex-standardized prevalence of cataract was calculated for comparisons. Results: Cataract was reported by 0. 93 million Canadians in 2000/2001, 0. 99 million in 2003, 1. 10 million in 2005, and 1. 34 million in 2008/2009. This corresponds to an age-and sex-standardized prevalence of 8. 9% in 2000/2001, 9. 0% in 2003, 9. 5% in 2005, and 10. 2% (P <0. 05) in 2008/2009. The increase in age-and sex-standardized prevalence was greater in individuals without secondary school graduation than those with secondary school graduation or higher (4. 3% versus 1. 3%, P < 0. 05) and was seen in all Canadian provinces. The largest increase was documented in a province (Saskatchewan, from 9. 8% in 2000/2001 to 12. 6% in 2008/2009, P < 0. 05) with the longest median wait times for cataract surgery (118 days in 2008) and the lowest number of ophthalmologists per 100, 000 population (1. 96 versus 3. 35 national average). Conclusions: The age-and sex-standardized prevalence of cataract increased 4-5 years after the multibil-lion-dollar wait time strategy was launched in 2004. A lower threshold to diagnose cataract may be one potentialreason for this finding. Further research is needed to understand the true reasons for the increase.

Purpose: To determine the incidence and determinants of intraoperative complications of cataract surgeries performed in Iran during 2000 to 2005Methods: The Iranian Cataract Surgery Survey (ICSS) is a retrospective study in which random sampling was done from selected centers. One week per season between 2000 and 2005 was assigned to each center and records of cataract surgeries performed during these weeks were studied to determine the type of surgery, the type of cataract, and intraoperative complications.Results: A total of 13, 409 records of cataract surgery were reviewed. The rate of intraoperative complications was 3.03% [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.5-3.5%]. Intraoperative complications were not significantly correlated with age or gender. The most common complication was posterior capsule rupture (PCR) with a rate of 2.82% (95% CI: 2.2-3.4%) followed by vitreous loss (2.76%; 95% CI: 2.2-3.32%). Subconjunctival hemorrhage and nucleus drop into the vitreous occurred in 0.21% and 0.01% of surgeries, respectively. The risk of intraoperative complications was highest with intracapsular cataract surgery (36.17%) and lowest with phacoemulsification (2.29%). In terms of type of cataract, intraoperative complications were highest with traumatic cataract (12.55%) and lowest with senile cataract (2.77%).Conclusion: Risk of intraoperative complications is lowest with phacoemulsification compared to other methods of cataract surgery. Cataract surgery in Iran, compared to developed countries, does not suffer much from complications such as PCR and vitreous loss.

Management for pediatric cataracts should be individualized and requires experienced team work. Most cases of congenital cataracts are familial or idiopathic; only rarely are they asso-ciated with metabolic disorders or ocular ab-normalities. The time and method of treatment are of crucial importance for visual rehabilita-tion. Cataract surgery is indicated when the opacity significantly obscures the visual axis. The pediatric eye is not simply a miniaturized adult eye, surgery should be performed by an experienced surgeon and the postoperative course needs to be monitored carefully. Post-operatively, proliferation of lens epithelial cells (LECs) increases the incidence of posterior capsule opacification (PCO) and the elastic iris predisposes to iridocorneal adhesions (ICA), iris capture, pupil irregularity and intraocular lens (IOL) decenteration.