Background: In diabetic eyes, various choroidal abnormalities are noted in addition to changes in the retinal\ncirculation, and the risk of increased aqueous flare and retinal thickening after cataract surgery is higher in diabetic\neyes. Inflammation caused by surgery induces breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier and affects the retina, although\nthe influence on the choroid is unknown. Several researchers have evaluated the choroidal thickness (CT) after cataract\nsurgery in patients with diabetes; however, the results are inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the\ninfluence of uneventful small-incision phacoemulsification cataract surgery on the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT),\nthe central macular thickness (CMT), and aqueous flare in patients with diabetes.\nMethods: This study included 59 randomly selected eyes (33 eyes of patients with diabetes and 26 eyes of control\npatients without diabetes) undergoing small-incision cataract surgery. Among the diabetic eyes, 26 were without\ndiabetic retinopathy, and the remaining eyes had non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Aqueous flare, CMT, and SCT\nmeasurements were performed before and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery.\nResults: The postoperative CMT continued to increase significantly until 3 months in both groups. Although the CMT\nwas more in patients with diabetes than in patients without diabetes during the follow-up period, there was no\nsignificant difference between the two groups. The aqueous flare value increased until 3 months after surgery in both\ngroups. Although the increase was significant at 3months after surgery in patients with diabetes, the increase in\ncontrols was not significant. The aqueous flare values differed significantly between the two groups before and at 3\nmonths after surgery. There was no significant within-group or between-group difference in pre- and postoperative\nSCT values.\nConclusion: In diabetic eyes with early stage of retinopathy, even small-incision cataract surgery can induce\nincreased aqueous flare and macular thickening until 3 months, although there is no significant change in the\nchoroidal thickness. Further studies are essential to evaluate choroidal changes after the cataract surgery in\ndiabetic eyes.
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