Authors: Lindsay Ong-Tone

Purpose: This will be the eleventh annual survey on the practice patterns of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) members in cataract surgery. 

Study Design: Web based 

Methods: This survey will be conducted in January 2019 when an e-mail with a link to Red Cap will be sent to all the COS members who have indicated that their practice focus is on Cataract and IOL. Two reminder e-mails will be sent at 2 week intervals. 

Results: There was a decrease in the number of respondents who were using femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) in 2017 (11.8%). This increased back to 16.9% in 2018. The cataract wound size has been getting smaller over the years. In 2017, the most popular one was 2.2 mm (40.5%) followed by 2.4 mm (22.6%) and 2.75 mm (20.2%). Nearly 70 percent of the respondents were correcting astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery. The majority (82 percent) were using a toric intraocular lens to do so. Of the respondents who correct astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery, 74% corrected 1 Diopter or more of with the rule astigmatism while 76.7% corrected 1 Diopter or less of against the rule astigmatism. The number of respondents using intracameral antibiotics has increased from 23.1 percent in 2009 to 46.6 percent in 2017. In this latest survey, the most popular intracameral antibiotic was moxifloxacin (75.6 percent) followed by cefuroxime (12 percent) and vancomycin (12 percent). 

Conclusions: Certain trends in the practice patterns of the COS members in cataract surgery have been observed and maintained over the years. Namely, the main wound size has decreased, the use of toric intraocular lenses and intracameral antibiotics have increased markedly over the years.