To compare the postoperative results of 2.2 mm microcoaxial cataract surgery (MCCS) and conventional 3.0 mm cataract surgery (CCS).

This study included 30 patients (40 eyes): 17 patients (21 eyes) had microcoaxial cataract surgery using a 2.2 mm microcorneal incision, and 13 patients (19 eyes) had conventional cataract surgery using a 3.0 mm corneal incision. In these two groups, we measured phacoemulsification time, total phacoemulsification percentage, and effective phacoemulsification time (EPT) during cataract surgery. We compared corneal thickness, endothelial cell count, uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity, and surgically, induced astigmatism (SIA) by corneal topography between the two groups preoperatively and at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 2 months postoperatively.

There were significantly lower SIA ( p =0.025) at postoperative day 1 in MCCS, and there was no significant difference after that. No difference in phacoemulsification time, total phacoemulsification percentage, EPT, corneal thickness, postoperative uncorrected visual acuity or corrected visual acuity was noted between MCCS and CCS.

MCCS using a 2.2 mm small corneal incision appears to be a safe and advanced procedure with a smaller amount of surgically-induced astigmatism during the early postoperative period.