Recovery of the blood-aqueous barrier after cataract surgery.

Following extracapsular cataract and posterior chamber implant surgery the sequential recovery of the blood-aqueous barrier was measured by anterior segment fluorophotometry. Postoperatively 49 (69.0%) out of 71 eyes (71 patients) had recovered at a uniform rate, re-establishing a normal blood-aqueous barrier by the end of the three-month study. In these eyes recovery of the blood-aqueous barrier was unaffected by the use of preoperative indomethacin, the surgeon, the type of section, or the type of fixation of the implant. In eyes recovering normally after cataract surgery the rate of recovery of the blood-aqueous barrier can be expressed by a in the equation a = (y-b)/x, in which y is the logarithm of the anterior chamber fluorescence, x is the time after surgery, and b is a constant for each patient which is the anterior chamber fluorescence measured immediately after surgery. This normal rate of recovery provides a baseline from which to assess surgical technique or postoperative medication.