VISUAL RECOVERY AND PATIENT SATISFACTION AFTER CATARACT SURGERY UNDER A STANDARDISED INSTITUTIONAL PROTOCOL: A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY FROM A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Cataract remains the leading cause of avoidable visual impairment in India. The quality of cataract care depends not only on surgical volume but on consistent perioperative management, the visual result achieved and the benefit perceived by the patient. This study valuated visual recovery and patient satisfaction over 12 months in patients operated under a standardised institutional cataract surgery protocol. Methods: In this prospective observational study, 188 of 213 consecutive patients with age-related cataract assessed at a tertiary care teaching hospital between 11 February 2024 and 31 March 2026 were enrolled. All underwent a standardised preoperative evaluation, cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation, postoperative treatment, counselling and scheduled review. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA, logMAR) was recorded preoperatively and on day 1 and at 1 week and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months; patient satisfaction was rated on a 10-point visual analogue scale (VAS) at each review from 1 week onward. Results: Mean age was 64.2 ± 8.7 years; 103 (54.8%) patients were men and 116 (61.7%) were of rural residence. The right eye was operated in 94 (50.0%) and the left in 82 (43.6%); 12 (6.4%) had bilateral cataract with one eye operated. Mean BCVA improved from 0.83 ± 0.27 logMAR preoperatively to 0.43 ± 0.20 on day 1, 0.16 ± 0.12 at 1 month and 0.08 ± 0.08 at 12 months (p< 0.001 at every visit), and the proportion achieving the predefined satisfactory visual outcome rose from 12.8% preoperatively to 94.1% at 12 months. Mean VAS satisfaction increased from 7.2 ± 1.3 at 1 week to 9.1 ± 0.8 at 12 months, when 167 (88.8%) patients reported high satisfaction. Final BCVA correlated inversely with VAS score (Spearman ρ = −0.64, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Cataract surgery delivered under a standardised protocol produced large, sustained gains in visual acuity and high patient satisfaction over 12 months. Pairing an objective acuity outcome with a patient-reported measure gives a fuller account of cataract surgical quality than either alone.