[Comparison in effectiveness of sterilization between chlorhexidine gluconate and povidone-iodine].

Purpose: To evaluate the positive value of bacterial cultures which were collected soon after various types of ophthalmic surgery, from eyelids and conjunctiva disinfected by dilute chlorhexidine gluconate or povidone-iodine solution.

Methods: This study evaluated 179 cases (mean age, 65.6 +/- 15.3) (210 eyes) who underwent cataract surgery, vitrectomy and scleral buckling performed by the same surgeon between April 2005 and December 2005. We divided all the cases into two groups: cases whose eyelids and conjunctiva were disinfected with dilute 0.05% solution of chlorhexidine gluconate, and the other cases whose eyelids were disinfected with 10% solution of povidone-iodine, and the conjunctiva was treated with 16 times dilute povidone-iodine solution. Soon after surgery, samples for bacterial culture were scraped from all eyelids and conjunctiva by swabs.

Results: From the eyelids, bacteria were detected from 39 of the 107 eyes in the chlorhexidine gluconate group, and 19 of the 103 eyes in the povidone-iodine group (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the chlorhexidine gluconate and povidone-iodine groups with respect to the number of positive cases from the conjunctiva. However, a higher positive value in bacterial culture collected from eyelids was shown in the chlorhexidine gluconate group.

Conclusions: Therefore, based on this result, we consider that povidone-iodine solution has a superior disinfectant effect compared to chlorhexidine gluconate.