Effects of chloramphenicol, povidone-iodine 1% and 5% eye drops on the colonisation of conjunctival flora in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

the aim was to compare 2 drops of either 5% chloramphenicol, 1% povidone-iodine or 5% povidone-iodine before cataract surgery on reducing the colonisation of bacterial flora in the conjunctiva. This was a double-blind, randomised clinical trial study. Patients referred to Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd, Iran, for cataract surgery were studied. Totally 260 patients were enrolled. The affected lower fornix was gently sampled with a sterile swab and cultured on appropriate microbiological media. Then one of the 3 solutions mentioned above was instilled into the conjunctival sac of the cases in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. After thirty minutes, new conjunctival swabs were taken and cultured. The type of bacteria isolated and their colony-forming unit per mL (CFU/mL) number were primary end-points. The statistical tests of Phi and Cramer's V and Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis were applied to evaluate the relationship between the studied variables and culture results as the secondary end-point. The studied patients were 129 (49.6%) males and 131 (50.4%) females. Bacterial growth was observed in 49 cases (18.85%); the most commonly isolated bacteria were A single dose of povidone-iodine 5% and chloramphenicol effectively reduces the colonisation of normal conjunctival bacteria and can be used as effective prophylaxis. This study was part of an MSc thesis of Nasrin Tofighi. Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran, funded this work.

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Conflict of interest: None declared.