ArticleScientific reports2026
Microplastics exposures in cataract surgery and potential clinical concerns.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Corundum Aggregates With Microplastics Revealed by Raman Scattering and Fluorescence Study of Children's Urine in Hospital Environment.Journal of biophotonics · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Microplastic (MP) exposures have been a significant global public health concern. Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed ocular surgery worldwide, and various plastic tools are used in cataract surgery. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of MPs in surgical devices, intraocular fluids, and cataractous crystalline lenses in cataract surgery. We collected surgical solutions/devices (irrigation saline, balanced salt solution [BSS], and ophthalmic viscosurgical device [OVD]), ocular inflow/outflow fluids from six phacoemulsification cases, cataractous crystalline lenses from two extracapsular cataract extraction patients, and operating room (OR) air samples. Numbers and characteristics of MPs were measured using raman spectroscopy and surface morphologies of MPs were measured using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. There were no MPs in saline or BSS in syringes nor in OVD. A small number of MPs were detected in ocular inflow fluids (mean ± standard deviation [SD] = 0.1 ± 0.1/mL) and OR air (mean ± SD = 0.5 ± 0.3/mL). Higher concentrations were observed in intraocular outflow fluid, with one plastic bag-collected sample showing 50.4 ± 0.3/mL, compared with 1.5(± 1.4)-7.2(± 3.5)/mL in other patients whose samples were collected in glass containers. MPs were also detected in cataractous crystalline lens (mean ± SD = 12.3 ± 5.8/100 mg). Ocular inflow fluids contained only 10-19 μm polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) fragments. However, intraocular outflow fluids and cataractous crystalline lenses contained smaller 5-9 μm fragments and fibers of six polymer types: PE, PP, polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyamide (PA). Patients who had other ocular diseases within past three years or who had diabetes at the time of surgery showed higher concentrations of total MPs and PE (P < 0.05). MPs can be exposed into eyeball during cataract surgery, potentially from surgical instruments or indoor air. Substantial intraocular MP contamination exists prior to surgery rather than from external surgical sources.
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