Comparison of dominant- and non-dominant-hand cateract surgery outcomes by a single surgeon.

PURPOSE: To compare dominant and non-dominant hand phacoemulsification surgery outcomes.

METHODS

This retrospective, single-center study included 300 patients who underwent phacoemulsification surgery by a single, right-handed surgeon. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether the surgeon used his dominant or non-dominant hand during surgery. Right eye operations were performed with the right hand, and left eye operations were performed with the left hand. Detailed ophthalmological examinations were performed on all patients preoperatively and postoperatively. Intraoperative phacoemulsification parameters, the presence of intraoperative and postoperative complications, postoperative refractive errors, visual acuity, and surgically induced astigmatism values were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

There were 171 patients in the dominant hand phacoemulsification group and 129 patients in the non-dominant hand phacoemulsification group. The distributions of age, gender, systemic diseases, and lens opacification were similar between the groups (p>0.05, for all). No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of total operation time, phaco power, ellips fx, or ultrasonic time (p>0.05, for all). There was also no significant difference in relation to intraoperative and postoperative complication distributions, postoperative third-month refractive errors, visual acuity, or surgically induced astigmatism values (p>0.05, for all).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that cataract surgery performed by a single surgeon can be effectively and safely performed using both hands on patients in a real operating theater environment. More objective results can be obtained with surgeries performed by a larger number of experienced surgeons.