All content on Eyewiki is protected by copyright law and the Terms of Service. This content may not be reproduced, copied, or put into any artificial intelligence program, including large language and generative AI models, without permission from the Academy.

Surgical Therapy

Simultaneous Bilateral Cataract Surgery

The procedure is also known by the following names: Immediately sequential bilateral cataract surgery

Background

Simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery (SBCS) remains a controversial topic in most developed countries despite studies which have shown that it is both safe and effective.

As with many controversial medical procedures, there are clear advantages and disadvantages of performing simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery.

Advantages:

Minimizing patient visits to the surgical facility and doctor's office
Faster recovery to binocular vision particularly seen in patient's with high refractive errors
Decreased cost to patient
Decreased cost to the health system

Disadvantages:

Risk of bilateral endophthalmitis
Risk of bilateral toxic anterior shock syndrome (TASS)
Unable to gain refractive insight from first eye
Decreased reimbursement for physicians (in certain health systems)

Recent improvements in cataract surgery technology and techniques have improved the complication rate of cataract surgery to the point that even the risk of bilateral same-day surgery is exceedingly low. This has led to more surgeons offering this option to their patients.

There are regional variations in how this procedure is viewed, which can be seen in the number/percentage of patients undergoing SBCS. For example, in Sweden as many as 40 percent of patients undergo SBCS, where that number is less than 1% in the United States.

Patient Selection

Despite the known risks, many doctors have historically performed this procedure on select patients, including those with serious co-morbidities who have significant trouble getting to the operating room and/or undergoing anesthesia. (example, Downs Syndrome patients)

Today, doctors are offering this to many routine, healthy patients as a convenience and cost saving measure.

Indications

Bilateral Cataracts

Contraindications

Surgical Technique

The term is generally applied to the act of performing bilateral cataract extraction with intra-ocular lens placement as independent operations sequentially on the same visit. This includes re-preping and draping the patient between eyes.

Outcomes

Recent outcome studies have not shown any significant difference in outcomes from traditional sequential cataract surgery.

Complications

Bilateral endophthalmitis Bilateral TASS Bilateral refractive surprise

References

Arshinoff S, Bastianelli P. Incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis after immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery. J Cataract Refract Surg 2011;37:2105-2114.
Olsen T. Use of fellow eye data in the calculation of intraocular lens power for the second eye. Ophthalmology 2011;118:9:1710.
Covert DJ, Henry CR, Koenig SB. Intraocular lens power selection in the second eye of patients undergoing bilateral, sequential cataract extraction. Ophthalmology 2010;117:1:49-54.
Kessel L, Andresen J, Emgaard D, Flesner P, Tendal B, Hjordal J. Immediate Sequential Bilateral Cataract Surgery: A Systemi Review and Meta-Analysis. J Ophthalmol 2015;