Effect of preoperative counseling on patient fear from the visual experience during phacoemulsification under topical anesthesia: Multicenter randomized clinical trial.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether preoperative counseling about potential intraoperative visual experience during phacoemulsification under topical anesthesia reduces fear in patients having cataract surgery.


METHODS
The Eye Institute at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Royal Hull Hospitals NHS Trust, Kingston-upon-Hull, and Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom.


METHODS
In this prospective multicenter randomized clinical trial, patients with cataracts having elective phacoemulsification under topical anesthesia were recruited and randomized into 2 groups. Both groups received routine preoperative counseling regarding risks and benefits of cataract surgery. One group received additional counseling on the potential intraoperative visual experience during phacoemulsification; the other group did not. The patients were then interviewed within 24 hours following phacoemulsification regarding their intraoperative experience.


RESULTS
Two hundred nineteen patients were recruited over an 11-month period. There were 104 men and 115 women. The mean age was 68 years (range 20 to 89 years). There were 188 Singaporeans, comprising 168 Chinese, 13 Malays, and 7 Indians, and 31 British patients, all of whom were white. The mean fear score was 0.3 in the group that received additional counseling and 0.9 in the group that did not receive additional counseling (P = .036). The effect of counseling on fear was significant (P = .002) even after controlling for sex, age, and whether first or second cataract surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative counseling about the potential intraoperative visual experience during phacoemulsification under topical anesthesia helped to reduce the fear from the visual sensations in patients having cataract surgery.
Voon
Li-Wern
LW
The Eye Institute at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National Healthcare Group, Singapore. voonlw@yahoo.com
Au Eong
Kah-Guan
KG
Saw
Siang-Mei
SM
Verma
Dinesh
D
Laude
Augustinus
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D003376:Counseling; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D018918:Phacoemulsification; D011300:Preoperative Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014785:Vision, Ocular