Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight eyes of 24 patients were operated for cataract between March 2005 and May 2006. Continous circular capsülorhexis (CCC) was performed under anterior chamber maintainer. Two side ports one at 2 o’clock and the other at 10 o’clock were prepared. Capsulorhexis was performed with a 27 gauge capsulorhexis needle entered to the anterior chamber through the side port at 10 o’clock while the anterior chamber volume and pressure was maintained with an anterior chamber maintainer entered to the anterior chamber through the side port at 2 o’clock. Upon completing the capsulorexis and corneal tunnel incission the anterior chamber maintainer was removed. Viscoelastic material was only used for the protection of the corneal endotelhium. Phacoemulsification surgery was completed with an intraocular lens implantaion after emulsification of nucleus and cleaning of all the lens materials.

Results: 15 of the patients were men and 9 of them were women. The mean age of tye study group was 63.4±9.9 years. Two of the ccc could not be completed under the assistance of anterior chamber maintainer. We did not meet a posterior capsular tear in any of the cases.

Conclusion: This technique seems to be a rather inexpensive and more cases are needed to assess safety and efficiency of this technique. Keywords : Anterior chamber maintainer, continous circular capsülorhexis, phacoemulsification surgery