Residual astigmatism following cataract surgery

Abstract

Objective: To determine the amount of residual astigmatism following cataract surgery.

Materials and methods: A hospital based observational study was conducted in a tertiary eye hospital, Bangladesh during the period of July, 2013 to June, 2014. Patients was selected for the study who diagnosed as ARC with variable amount of astigmatism (1.5 to 3.5D), and excluded any other ocular pathology or history of previous ocular surgery. Phacoemulsification with PC Toric IOL implantation in all cases. Auto refracto-keratometer was done Preoperative and postoperatively for assessing the astigmatism. Main outcome measured were included preoperative uncorrected visual acuity, postoperative uncorrected visual acuity on 1stPOD, after 1 week and 1month, Preoperative keratometry, Preoperative astigmatism, Postoperative uncorrected keratometry on 1^st POD, after 1 week and 1month, Postoperative uncorrected astigmatism on 1stPOD, after 1 week and 1month

Results: 30 eyes of 28 patients were assessed in this study. Due to clear corneal incision during phacoemulsification, the steep meridian became flat significantly from pre-operative keratometry 44.329±1.473D (mean±SD) to 30thpost operative keratometry 43.971±1.431D (mean±SD) having p<0.001. On the other-hand the flat meridian became steeper from pre-operative keratometry 42.225±1.471D (mean±SD) to 30thpost operative keratometry 42.421±1.501D (mean±SD) having p<0.001. Preoperative mean astigmatism [Mean±SD] was 2.104±0.319D, after the first postoperative day, mean astigmatism decreased to 0.954±0.494D with p<0.01, and finally after 1 Month there was significant reduction of pre-operative astigmatism to 0.583±0.413D with p<0.0001. So, the mean pre-operative astigmatism decreased significantly in the successive post-operative days.

Conclusion: Toric Intraocular lens implantation in phacoemulsification surgery can correct pre-existing corneal astigmatism significantly after one month of surgery.

AKMMC J 2022; 13(1) : 42-46