Incidence of vitreous loss among third-year residents performing phacoemulsification.

The incidence of vitreous loss among third-year residents learning phacoemulsification was retrospectively evaluated. One hundred thirty-six cases of phacoemulsification were performed by six different third-year residents with the same attending physician supervising all cases. The incidence of vitreous loss was 14.7%. This study demonstrates that the rate of vitreous loss among residents learning phacoemulsification is higher than the reported incidence of vitreous loss for residents learning planned extracapsular cataract surgery with expression of the lens nucleus.