To evaluate the postoperative refractive errors after air tamponade with posterior capsulectomy during combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery.

Patients who underwent combined vitrectomy, cataract surgery, and air tamponade with or without posterior capsulectomy were reviewed. All patients were followed for 4 months after surgery. Preoperative characteristics such as anterior chamber depth, axial length, and refractive error were analyzed and refractive errors after the surgery were evaluated. The difference between the target refractions and final refractive errors after the surgery according to the biometry method, and intraocular lens power calculations, were observed.

Fourteen eyes of 14 patients who had combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery with posterior capsulectomy and air tamponade were classified as group A, and 10 eyes of 10 patients who had combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery with only air tamponade were classified as group B. The target refraction of group A measured with A-scan biometry using the Sanders-Retzlaff-Kraff/Theoretical (SRK/T) calculation was −0.21 ± 0.22 diopters (D), and the final refractive error at 9.5 (± 2.20) months after the surgery was −0.52 ± 0.54 D. The mean difference between the two was −0.32 ± 0.44 D. The target refraction of group B measured with A-scan biometry using the SRK/T calculation was −0.33 ± 0.29 D, and the final refractive error at 9.5 (± 2.20) months after the surgery was −0.27 ± 0.39 D. The mean difference between the two was 0.06 ± 0.53 D.

Posterior capsulectomy during combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery with air tamponade led to myopic shifts compared with no posterior capsulectomy with air tamponade during combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery. Performing posterior capsulectomy with air tamponade during combined vitrectomy and cataract surgery should, therefore, be carefully considered.