BACKGROUND Cataract surgery is a boon in itself. With all the possible modalities of cataract surgery, we try to give a normal vision. But Surgically Induced Astigmatism (SIA) is one of the causes of a poor quality of vision. We have studied SIA in 2 different sites of incision in Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SICS). The objective of this study is to compare the amount of surgically induced astigmatism in superior and temporal incisions in manual small incision cataract surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS Hundred patients were studied. The patients were randomly assigned to any of the two groups. The two groups had 50 patients each. The patients in Group A underwent manual SICS with a superior incision. The patients in Group B underwent manual SICS with a temporal incision. The patients were examined on the post-operative weeks 1, 3 and 6. The uncorrected and the bestcorrected visual acuity was recorded and a slit-lamp examination and auto-refractometer and keratometry examinations were also done. RESULTS In our study at 6 weeks post-operatively we found almost 80% people with astigmatism < 0.5D in temporal section, while there were 20% people in superior section. We also found that in temporal sclera group, there was reduction of pre-operative ATR astigmatism from 66% to 64% and there was no change in pre-operative WTR astigmatism which was 30% pre-and postoperative (6 weeks). CONCLUSION SICS which is done with a temporal approach provides a better quality of vision due to a significantly less SIA than the superior approach.

BACKGROUND Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed surgical procedure. The surgical outcome in terms of visual acuity depends on surgical technique and type of intraocular lens used. In this article, we are comparing Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) and Phacoemulsification in senile cataract. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy, visual results of MSICS and phacoemulsification for the treatment of senile cataract. MATERIALS AND METHODS Here, we studied 100 patients who were randomly grouped under MSICS and Phacoemulsification group. Both the groups had 50 patients each. Patients were examined at the end of 1 st and 6 th postoperative weeks and Surgically Induced Astigmatism (SIA) was calculated at 6 th postoperative week. The uncorrected and the best-corrected visual acuity was recorded and a slit-lamp examination and auto-refractometer and keratometry examinations were also done. RESULTS In our study at 6 weeks post-operatively, we found SIA in SICS group has an average value between 1 and 1.25D with a mean of 1.125D. On the other hand, SIA in Phacoemulsification group has an average value between 0.5D and 0.75D with a mean of 0.625D. CONCLUSION The postoperative improvement in visual acuity with manual small incision cataract surgery and with phacoemulsification was good. The improvement in visual acuity with small incision cataract surgery (SICS) was comparable to phacoemulsification, although phacoemulsification gives better visual acuity at 6 weeks. Lower rate of surgically induced astigmatism was found with phacoemulsification when compared to the small incision cataract surgery.