Corneal incision phacoemulsification and internal bleb revision.

Background And Objective: Cataract extraction in filtered eyes often leads to decreased outflow and, eventually, to bleb failure. The authors describe a surgical technique that promotes preservation of the filtering bleb.

Patients And Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed 19 eyes of 19 consecutive patients who underwent corneal incision phacoemulsification and simultaneous internal revision of the previous filtering bleb.

Results: The mean follow-up time was 13.6 +/- 7.6 months. Visual acuity improved in all patients (89.4 percent achieved 20/40 or better). No significant difference was noted between preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressures and astigmatism. The bleb was preserved in 89.4 percent of the eyes at the time of the last follow-up.

Conclusions: This surgical technique proved to be safe and yielded good results.