DR. STUTI CHAND

DR. VINITA GUPTA, DR. VINITA GUPTA, DR. AARSHI NAHARWAL

Conjunctival sac flora of 308 eyes was studied to evaluate the need of conjunctival swab as a routine

pre-operative investigation in patients undergoing cataract surgery for preventing post-operative

endophthalmitis (PE).74 eyes (24.02%) showed no growth. Amongst the remaining eyes(234), S.

epidermidis was isolated in 35.7%, S. aureus in 10% , Propionibacterium in 7.46%, Corynebacterium

in 5.51%, micrococcus in 2.9% and among other isolates were Moraxella catarrhalis(2.27%), S.

Pneumoniae(1.62%),Clostridium(1.62%), S. pyogenes(1.29%), P. Aeruginosa(1.29%),

Lactobacillus(1.29%), Bacteroides(0.97%), Fungus(0.97%), E.coli (0.64%), Pepto

streptococcus(0.64%), H. influenza(0.64%), S. viridans(0.64%) and Klebsiella(0.32%). Evaluation of

the flora of conjunctival sac prior to cataract surgery will help in guiding the choice of peri-operative

antibiotics which may be helpful in reducing PE in high-risk patients either due to pre-operative or

intraoperative factors.