Aim: To compare the anatomical and functional outcomes of cataract surgery with manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) to those of extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) in Lome. Patients and Methods: A prospective study involved two groups of patients who underwent ECCE (group 1) and MSICS (group 2) by the same surgeon in the same conditions in different periods. Complications and visual results to the 45th postoperative day were compared. Results: At the 45th postoperative day, 60% of operated eyes of the ECCE group (G1) and 83.9% in the group of MSICS (G2) had uncorrected visual acuity greater than or equal to 3/10. Through the pinhole, these proportions increased to 73.3% for G1 and 92.2% for G2. Visual acuity was less than 1/10 in 4.4% for G1 and 1.1% for G2. The vitreous loss was observed in proportions of 3.8% for G1 and 3.3% for G2. During follow-up, the three main early postoperative complications were infl ammation (13.9%), corneal edema (13.3%), and the pigment dispersion (7.2%) in G1 and corneal edema (9.4%), pigment dispersion (8.3%) and hypertonia (6.6%) in G 2. Conclusion: Two cataract extraction techniques offer the same level of safety in intraoperative period. However, MSICS has certain advantages over the ECCE and would be an alternative technique in developing countries.

Introduction: Cataract surgery is experiencing progress and adaptations in recent years with the aim to obtain better anatomical and functional results. Extraction of cataract by phacoemulsification has become a gold standard with its multiple variants. In developing countries, the cataract surgery by manual and sutureless small incision technique (MSICS) is increasingly practiced. The aim of this study is to assess astigmatism before and after cataract surgery by MSICS.