The Corneal Topographic Changes in Sutureless Cataract Surgery

Kim, Jong Cheon; Han, Hae Kyong; Joo, Choun Ki

Abstract

In order to compare the visual outcome and amount of surgically induced outcome between 3.1mm clear corneal incision group and 6.0mm scleral tunnel incision group in sutureless cataract surgery, 55 eyes(44 patients) were evaluated retrospectively. Clear corneal incision group and scleral tunnel incision group was consisted of 35 eyes and 20 eyes respectively and all patients were followed up by 2months postoperatively. Twenty two eyes(65%) from clear corneal incision group and 14 eyes(70%) from scleral tunnel incision group showed the uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better at postoperative first day. As measurement of surgically induced astigmatism corneal topography using CVK(computerized videokeratography) was applied. The corneal flattening was significantly more prominent at the distances of 0.75, 1.5, and 2.5mm along the 90-degree meridian at one week postoperatively in clear corneal incision group than scleral tunnel incision(p<0.05). But these changes decreased and became not statisticlly significant at eight weeks(p>0.05). The change of surgically induced astigmatism between one day and eight weeks was within the range of one diopter in both groups. There was moderate corneal edema along the incisional meridian at one week and recovered to preoperative levet at four weeks postoperatively in clear corneal incisional group. Conclusively, clear corneal incision in catarad surgery showed early visual rehabilitation and small surgical astigmatism such like scleral tunnel incision.