Eye Surgery Applications Before and After the Covid-19 Outbreak

Abstract Objective: As with any healthcare practice, elective surgeries had to be postponed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of ophthalmology outpatients and eye surgery admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic and, also to compare the pandemic and re-pandemic periods.Methods:This retrospective study included patients admitted to the ophthalmology clinic of a tertiary hospital from April through June 2020. A similar control sample was formed using the registries from the same interval in the previous year. The primary endpoint was the number and distribution of type of surgical procedures (e.g., group A and group B surgery) during the pandemic. The secondary endpoint was the comparison between the pre-pandemic and pandemic period.Findings: A total of 116 operations were performed in 2020 (mean age: 42.3±25.6 years, male: 63.8%). In 2019, 873 surgeries were performed in the same period of the year (mean age: 56.6± 20.2 years, male: 48.8%), indicating a 86.7% decrease during the pandemic. While the proportion of group A surgeries was 10.3% in the total number in 2019, it was 25.9% in 2020 (p<0.001). The rate of group B surgeries also increased from 5.4% to 17.24% (p<0.001). Although the total number of surgeries decreased after the pandemic started, the rates of both A and B group surgeries increased significantly compared to the previous year.Conclusion: This study showed a striking reduction in eye surgery during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, an increase in trauma related surgeries were found during the pandemic.