Astigmatism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Astigmatism, including details on cornea, retina, treatment, types, signs, tests.

Corneal aberrations after microincision cataract surgery.

Elkady B, Alió JL, Ortiz D, Montalbán R

VISSUM, Instituto Oftalmologico de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.

PURPOSE: To study the effect of microincision cataract surgery (MICS) on the optical quality of the cornea, characterized in terms of Seidel aberrations. SETTING: Instituto Oftalmológico de Alicante, Vissum, Alicante, Spain. METHODS: This study comprised 25 eyes of 25 patients with nuclear or corticonuclear cataract of grade 2+ to 4+ (Lens Opacities Classification System III). Microincision cataract surgery was performed using low ultrasound power through a 1.6 to 1.8 mm clear corneal incision placed on the axis of the positive corneal meridian. An Acri.Smart 48S intraocular lens (Acri.Tec) was implanted in all eyes. Seidel aberration root-mean-square (RMS) values were obtained with a 6.0 mm aperture using the CSO topographer (Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici) preoperatively and 1 and 3 months postoperatively. RESULTS: The total RMS after MICS decreased slightly from a mean of 2.15 microm +/- 2.51 (SD) preoperatively to 1.96 +/- 2.01 microm postoperatively; the decrease was not statistically significant (P = 1.00). The difference between the corneal astigmatism from preoperatively (-0.80 +/- 0.76 diopter [D]) to postoperatively (-0.63 +/- 0.62 D) was not statistically significant (P = 1.00) nor were the differences in Seidel aberrations, coma, or higher-order aberrations. CONCLUSION: Microincision cataract surgery did not degrade the optical quality of the cornea or induce a modification in corneal astigmatism, including the axis.

Published 31 December 2007 in J Cataract Refract Surg, 34(1): 40-5.
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