• G Rebolleda, F J Muñoz-Negrete, and C Gutierrez-Ortiz.
• Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ophthalmology Department, Glaucoma Unit, Madrid, Spain. fjmunoz@santandersupernet.com
• J Cataract Refract Surg. 2001 Aug 1;27(8):1214-20.

PurposeTo compare the efficacy and safety of topical and retrobulbar anesthesia for phacotrabeculectomy.SettingHospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.MethodsThis prospective study comprised 60 patients (60 eyes) having phacotrabeculectomy surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups receiving topical anesthesia plus intracameral lidocaine 1% or retrobulbar anesthesia. Patients were asked to document the discomfort they experienced during the administration of the anesthetic agent, during surgery, and postoperatively using a numeric pain scale. Complications and surgical conditions were also evaluated.ResultsThe retrobulbar group reported significantly more discomfort during administration of the anesthetic agent than the topical group (P < .001). The topical group reported significantly more discomfort intraoperatively (P < .01). Eyelid squeezing and eyeball movement were more common in the topical group; however, neither was a problem to the surgeon. There was no difference in surgical conditions (P = .38) or the postoperative pain scores between the 2 groups (P = .06). One patient receiving topical anesthesia developed a suprachoroidal hemorrhage intraoperatively.ConclusionsTopical anesthesia supplemented with intracameral lidocaine was an effective alternative to retrobulbar anesthesia for phacotrabeculectomy. Although the degree of patient discomfort was significantly higher during surgery under topical anesthesia, the method avoids the pain and complications associated with a retrobulbar injection.

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