To determine the importance of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in patients scheduled for cataract surgery who present with no pathologies in biomicroscopic fundus examination. Retrospective study. In this study, the routine ophthalmologic examination of patients who were recommended cataract surgery was performed.Occult retinal pathologies were evaluated using OCT in patients without any pathologies in biomicroscopic fundus examination.According to whether retinal pathologies were detected on OCT, the patients were divided into two groups: normal and abnormal OCT.The findings of patients with retinal pathologies on OCT and their distribution according to age were also evaluated. A total of 271 eyes from 271 patients were evaluated.The number of patients with retinal pathologies on OCT despite normal fundoscopic examination findings was 38(14.0%).Of these patients,15(39.4%) had an epiretinal membrane,10(26.3%) had age-related macular degeneration, eight(21%) had vitreomacular traction, two(5.2%) had a lamellar hole, and 1(2.6%) patient each had a full-thickness macular hole, an intraretinal cyst, and photoreceptor layer damage.The age distribution of the patients with retinal pathologies was as follows: two patients,80 years.The rate of patients aged > 70 years and above was 78.9%.There was no statistically significant difference between the normal and abnormal OCT groups in terms of age, gender, the presence of systemic diseases, visual acuity, central macular thickness, and cataract type or density(p > 0.05 for all). In one of seven patients evaluated, retinal pathologies were detected on OCT despite normal fundoscopic examination findings.OCT can be used to detect occult retinal pathologies that cannot be detected by biomicroscopic fundus examination before cataract surgery.

Clinical relevance: Astigmatism causes a decrement in visual acuity, and deterioration in visual quality. Background: The aim of this study is to compare clear corneal incision (CCI) in the steepest meridian, opposed clear corneal incision (OCCI) and toric intraocular lens implantation methods for the correction of astigmatism in cataract surgery. Methods: Total of 93 preoperative patients with the rule corneal astigmatism (between 1.00-3.00 D) underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery are retrospectively included in this study. Whole patients are divided into three groups of equal number of patients of 31 by considering the astigmatism correcting methods that are as follows. Group 1 consists of patients underwent CCI on the steepest meridian, group 2 consists of the patients underwent paired OCCI, and group 3 consists of those with toric intraocular lens implantation. The preoperative and postoperative 3rd month uncorrected distance visual acuity, refraction and, keratometry values, and surgically induced astigmatism values calculated by Alpins method are recorded. Results: The age, preoperative and postoperative 3rd month spherical, spherical equivalent refraction and keratometry values of the groups are similar (p > 0.05). The preoperative uncorrected distance visual acuity values are similar in whole groups, postoperative uncorrected distance visual acuity values are the highest in group 1, and lowest in group 3 (p = 0.85, p = 0.02, respectively). The preoperative and postoperative 3rd month mean cylinder refraction values are -1.86 D, -1.00 D in group 1, -1.77 D, -0.70 D in group 2, and -1.95 D, -0.40 D in group 3. There is a statistically significant difference among the groups (p = 0.01). The surgically induced astigmatism values are statistically different among the groups [it was 0.46 +/- 0.21 in group 1, 0.91 +/- 0.44 in group 2, 0.33 +/- 0.18 in group 3 (p < 0.001, respectively)]. Conclusion: This study indicated that; CCI, paired OCCI, and toric intraocular lens implantation should be preferred and performed for the steepest meridian in low D, middle D, and high D astigmatism patients, respectively. CCI can easily be applied for low to medium D without needing extra skills and tools. On the other hand, toric intraocular lens implantation is a better option for a high astigmatism with proper and accurate planning before the surgery.

To evaluate the choroidal thickness and choroidal vascular index (CVI) in healthy women using the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCp). This prospective study included 30 women using COCp (3 mg drospirenone/0.03 mg ethinylestradiol) for contraception for at least 1 year and 30 healthy women who did not use COCp. Intraocular pressure (IOP), axial length (AL) and body mass index (BMI) values of all participants were recorded. Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) and choroidal thickness at 1500 micron distance in nasal and temporal regions (NCT, TCT) were measured through optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Luminal, stromal and total choroidal area values were evaluated by binarization method. The ratio of the luminal choroidal area to the total choroidal area was determined as the CVI value. There was no statistically significant difference in IOP and AL values between the two groups at no significant difference in age and BMI index (p > 0.05, for all). SCT, NCT and TCT values were no significant difference in the two groups (p > 0.05, for all). Luminal and stromal choroidal area values were found to be lower in the group using COCp (p = 0.01, p = 0.02 respectively). The CVI value was 62.1 ± 3.6% in the COCp group and 65.6 ± 4.3% in the control group. There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of CVI value (p = 0.002). To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate CVI in women using COCp, and CVI was found to be lower in individuals using COCp. Therefore, CVI can be used in the follow-up of possible ocular pathologies that may develop in individuals using COCp.