Purpose: To evaluate the effect of preoperative eyelash trimming on periocular bacterial flora.

Methods: One hundred patients divided into two groups. Fifty cases (group 1) had eyelash trimming prior to phacoemulsification and other fifty patients (group 2) did not. None of the study participants had been diagnosed as having an active ocular infection prior to surgery. Patients taking topical and systemic medications were excluded from the study. Eyelid and inferior conjunctiva cultures were obtained during the preoperative visit. Phacoemulsification was done through a temporal clear corneal incision. At the end of operation, cultures were retaken.

Results: The culture results showed that Staphylococcus epidermis was the most commonly isolated bacterial species from eyelids and fornix prior and following the operation. There were no statistically significant differences for eyelid cultures testing positive for any of isolated organisms between eyelash trimmed and not trimmed before and after surgery. There were also no statistical differences in the proportion of conjunctiva cultures testing positive for any of isolated organisms in before-after surgery as well as cultures of anterior chamber specimen.

Conclusion: In this study, it is shown that eyelash trimming - as a common preoperative technique for endophthalmitis prophylaxis in patients undergoing cataract surgery – may not be effective.