Clinical study on astigmatism of phacoemulsification incision decided by corneal topography

Objective To observe preoperative and postoperative astigmatism of corneal incision decided by the corneal topography. Methods A total of 240 eyes underwent phacoemulsification with corneal incision were randomly divided into three groups. Group A (80 eyes), incision at the steepest corneal meridian decided by corneal topography; group B (80 eyes), incision at 90 °; group C (80 eyes), incision at 180 °. Corneal astigmatism, visual changes of preoperative and 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postoperative were observed. Results Uncorrected visual acuity (>0.7) of group A were better than group B and C (P 0.6) were the same in all three groups of the patients. Astigmatism of group A were significantly reduced (P 0.05). Astigmatism of group A were significantly reduced (P <0.05) 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postoperative compared with group B and group C (P <0.05). Conclusions The incision which located at the steepest corneal meridian under the guidance of corneal topography reduces the preoperative and postoperative astigmatism, and attains better uncorrected visual acuity postoperative. Key words: Corneal topography;  Cataract;  Corneal incision;  Astigmatism