Effect of incision site on corneal endothelial cell count changes in cataract surgery by phacoemulsification

Objectives: a comparison was made between scleral tunnel incision and clear corneal incision for their effect on corneal endothelial cell count changes in cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. subjects and methods: 100 patients included in this study were selected from outpatient department of lrbt eye hospital and randomly divided into two groups. group a received scleral tunnel incision and group b received clear corneal incision. preoperatively,specular microscopy was performed to count corneal endothelial cells. postoperative follow up was performed at 1st day,1 week,6 week and 3 month. results: scleral tunnel incision group resulted in 6.44% ± 0.62% mean cell loss 3 month postoperatively. mean cell loss 3 month postoperatively was 8.39% ± 0.61% by clear corneal incision. conclusion: compared with clear corneal incision,scleral tunnel incision was associated with lower postoperative endothelial damage.