central foveal thickness before and after cataract surgery in normal and in diabetic patients without retinopathy background this study aims to evaluate and compare central foveal thickness cft changes after cataract surgery between normal and diabetic patients without retinopathy using optical coherence tomography octpatients and methods ninetyeight patients 49 patients with type 2 diabetes and 49 healthy controls sex and agematched undergoing phacoemulsification in one eye were included the presence of retinopathy was an exclusion criterion the oct examination was performed preoperatively as well as one three six and twelve months postoperatively cft was evaluated and compared between groupsresults preoperative cft showed no significant difference between the two groups normals 205 18 m vs diabetics 202 23 m p 01 postoperative cft in diabetics at all timepoints of the followup period was significantly increased when compared to controls first month normals 215 28 m vs diabetics 262 33 m p 005 third month normals 211 19 m vs diabetics 250 27 m p 005 sixth month normals 208 12 m vs diabetics 266 13 m p 005 and twelfth month normals 209 13 m vs diabetics 280 11 m p 005 the incidence of cystoid macular edema cme was 40 and 286 for the control group and the diabetic group respectively at the end of the followup period p 005conclusion eyes of diabetic patients without retinopathy present higher cft and a higher incidence of cme after cataract surgery on oct examination compared to eyes of healthy controls this may explain the unsatisfactory visual acuity following cataract surgery in these patients