Igarashi T, Ohsawa I, Kobayashi M, et al. - Researchers conducted this single-center, prospective, randomized, double-masked clinical trial to test the impacts of hydrogen (H₂) during clinical phacoemulsification. The sample consisted of 32 individuals who had cataracts of similar nucleus hardness in both eyes (age: 75.4 ± 7.68 years). For this investigation, they performed phacoemulsification using a solution of dissolved H₂ in one eye and a conventional solution in the contralateral eye. During phacoemulsification, H₂ dissolved in irrigation solution decreased corneal endothelial damage. This indicates that oxidative stress induces a considerable part of the corneal endothelial damage during phacoemulsification, and that H₂ is useful in clinical phacoemulsification.