2Asist. Dr., Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Göz Hastalıkları, Afyon, Türkiye
3Kütahya Gediz Devlet Hastanesi , Gözz Hastalıkları, Kütahya, Türkiye
4Prof. Dr., Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Göz Hastalıkları, Ankara, Türkiye Purpose: We aimed to demonstrate the reasons of demographic factors for the delay of operation time in mature cataract patients and to determine the measures to be taken to prevent delay.
Materials and Method: The study involved 98 patients operated by phacoemulsifi cation in Afyon Kocatepe University Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016. The patients had stage 4 mature cataracts in whom visual activity was from perception positive to two meter fi nger count. The reasons for the delay of surgery were asked. According to the answers, nine groups were formed numbered from one to nine. The proportion of the number of patients in each group to the total number of patients was obtained.
Results: The groups of patients were as follows: 1. Those who he/she had unaware of low visual acuity/unaware of cataract, 2. Those who had hesitated of surgery because a person that she/he knew completely lost sight after surgery, 3. Those who lacked access to health services , 4. Those who worried about getting worse after the surgery, 5. Those who had a variety of health problems preventing the operation, 6.Those who had waited because the other eye is well seen, 7. Those who had delayed to go hospital because of family problems, 8. Those who had not knew that their vision will improve with cataract surgery, 9. Those who had afraid a pain of surgery. The distribution of formed groups was as follows: 19 (19,4%) patients in group 1, 3 (3,1%) patients in group 2, 11 (11.2%) patients in group 3, 28 (28,6%) patients in group 4, 12 (12,2%) patients in group 5, 8 (8,2%) patients in group 6, 9 (9,2%) patients in group 7, 1 (1,0%) patients in group 8 and 7 (7,2%) patients in group 9. The most common reasons for delayed surgery time are ?worried about getting worse after the surgery? and ?unaware of low visual acuity/unaware of cataract?.
Conclusion: The delayed surgery time can be prevented by explaining the negative results of operation delay to the patients and giving them psychological and social support to help them overcome their fears.
Keywords : mature cataract, Zafer region, delay of surgery, phacoemulsifi cation