J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  1998 Nov;39(11):2558-2568.

Arcuate Keratotomy for Astigmatism after Keratoplasty and Advanced Vector Analysis

• Park KJ
• Hahn TW
• Kim JH

Abstract

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of arcuate keratotomy(AK) for correction of high postkeratoplasty astigmatism, we performed AK in 10 patients(11 eyes) who unable to wear contact lens or spectacles, and analysed surgical outcome with vector-corrected analysis and the polar values. A total reduction of 62% in keratometric cylinder was achieved with AK, and average pre- and postoperative keratometric cylinder were 6.00D and 2.27D respectively. The postoperative best corrected visual acuity with spectacle were between o.5 and 1.0 and showed a statistically significant improvement. One eye developed overcorrection requiring compression sutures and another eye underwent a redeepening procedure due to undercorrection. Intraoperative microperforation occured in one eye. With a definition of ` 2theta of 2x(Axis of vector corrected astigmatism - Axis of preoperative astigmatism)`, we found out that actual values of vectorcorrected astigmatism are the same as the polar values in 2-dimensional vector field. Therefore it is understood that the analysis of polar values and vector analysis are the same method for the evaluation of surgically-induced astigmatism. With the vector analysis of surgical outcomes in our patients, AK is ans very simple and effective procedure for the correction of high astigmatism following deratoplasty.

Keyword

Arcuate keratotomy; Postkeratoplasty astigmatism; Vector corrected astigmatism; Polar value

MeSH Terms

Astigmatism*
Axis, Cervical Vertebra
Corneal Transplantation*
Eyeglasses
Humans
Sutures
Visual Acuity