Materials and Methods: Records of 135 patients who underwent cataract surgery in our clinic between November of 1998 and April of 2011 were studied retrospectively. Blind opposite eyes, in which no surgery was performed, and patients without light perception (p-) were evaluated as a single-eye. Reasons for losing an eye, accompanying pathologies in eyes that were operated on, preoperative and postoperative best corrected visual acuity (VA), intraocular pressure measurements (IOP), and complications were recorded.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 71.49±11.51 (18-95) years old, and the mean follow-up period was 10.68±7.13 (1-68) months. Causes of vision loss in the blind eyes were neovascular glaucoma in 27 cases (20%), phthisis bulbi in 24 cases (17.78%), corneal scar-bullous keratopathy in 23 cases (17.04%), and optic atrophy in 20 cases (14.81%). All of the eyes in which cataract surgery was performed had preoperative VAs between light perception and 0.1. The postoperative VA's were measured over 0.1 in 103 patients (76.30%). Endophthalmitis was not observed in any of the cases.

Conclusion: Cataract surgery in monocular patients is an unsettling situation for both the patient and physician, and is considered to be quite risky in terms of potential complications. According to the results of our study, we report that surgical complication rates will decrease, and satisfactory results in terms of the physician and patient will be obtained, if the necessary surgical precautions are taken. Keywords : Cataract, complication, cause of blindness, monocular patient