Cataract surgery outcome at a rural eye care hospital in India.

We report the final outcomes, based on final visual acuity, of patients who underwent cataract surgery at an outreach rural ophthalmology unit and document the details of the ophthalmic examination, type of surgery, intra- and postoperative complications and the final visual acuity. Of 208 eyes (198 patients), 81.3% had small incision cataract surgery and 18.7% had phacoemulsification. We believe that, with good planning and the proper utilization of available resources, it is possible to achieve a good visual outcome in the great majority of cases.